Epsilon, The lost son who lost a brother
by UnanimousMusician
Summary: Epsilon, a second Year at Beacon, brought his team on an assignment to oversee the use of a new kind of Grimm. His team mates didn't survive Rated M for violence and some strong language and romance. I do not own RWBY all rights go to their owners. There ya' go guys, last chapter, enjoy, you managed to make me write 51 chapters without a review. Congrats.
1. Chapter 1

Epsilon surveyed the scene, pleased by none of it. He stood and felt for his cane. Noticing it wasn't there he bowed his head, remorse showing obviously on his face as he activated the only semblance he had ever known of, the only he knew he could use. Tears would have fallen from his face if anything had been left behind of his eyes after the "improvements" his father had inflicted on them. Instead he could only stand and feel the agony that was the instant knowledge that those who had been your room mates for the past year, your first and only family, had been charred to the point of oblivion by a new, more dangerous, sort of grimm. One that could consume anything, and turn ti into that which we currently relied heaviest of all, Dust. The Schnee company had looked heavily into this form of grimm. That was why it was a grimm, because the fear that we could possibly start using them and domesticating them was an extreme fear of many hunters and huntresses, not because we would be out of a job but because the grimm have no souls, that they would do anything to cause harm, including waiting until the precise moment to cause the maximum possible damage, at the Schnee Dust Factories. Them detonating themselves was a true example of this fact. Their adorableness causing us to underestimate them until the last moment. I had sensed the ionization of the dust, I stood at attention and reached toward my team, before my Semblance kicked in, without me calling it to, and enclosed me in a tent of bitter embrace that saved me from death and could have saved them too. If only I could have controlled myself and saved them from what I understood to be part of me. Certain in this fact, I returned to beacon. The greatest problem in all existence was, that I was wrong.

Stepping off the air shuttle I kept my head down. The grandeur that so many peers had explained to me about the entrance of Beacon was utterly lost on me. I shrugged off such thoughts and drew myself up to my full height of 6 ft 4 in., they would do me no good in my excellence at Beacon. I reported directly to Professor Ozpin. I knew he could tell I had entered the room but appeared to be waiting for the rest of my Team, ENDS, to walk in. All born in Vale, we had similar names except for Nano, the rest of us had been names in conjunction with the Greek Alphabet, long forgotten. Me (Epsilon), Nano , Delta, and Sigma, my blood brother who had always been ignored by our parents. I was the "star of the show" so to speak at the little Forge my father had owned. He showed an interest in fighting and I encouraged it going to far greater lengths than ever before to keep him onto it. Whenever my father found a weapon he had been using and confiscated it to sell, we would mysteriously find another in the woods. It was long before I found out this was my doing, but that time too, I had been wrong.  
"Where's the rest of your team?" he asked, "I would imagine they would have liked to come see me myself to report of their success," He obviously hadn't been watching the news.  
"They didn't come back, and they won't." I croaked, my voice sore from disuse.  
He bowed his head. "This is greatly troubling, the grimm are getting more and more clever. The only thing we can do against it is get better, stronger Hunters."  
"Better than my team?" I asked, he fell silent.  
"Your team was extraordinary, but the odds were stacked against them. I have a feeling that this was a one time thing, our chances of getting tricked in another such way are astronomical so pick your head up and move on. You didn't let us heal your eyes and you will now have to deal with it. such is the same with losing your team. Even in the way that it will be your greatest strength. Remember them, remember their sacrifice and use that memory to push you forward, to show you the way."  
"Understood." I responded, reassured that everything would be okay.  
"Now, the problem that immediately presents itself is the fact that your team is M.I.A,""They aren'-""Hunters never die Epsilon, they simply join a fight on another frontier,"  
"Okay" I said, grinning my grim (yikes) spirits already lifting in the presence of such a forward moving adult.  
"As I was saying, you may need a new team, all the teams in your year are full so I will place you in a position to join a new years team this coming assignment on Tuesday this week (today being Sunday). Will that be good for you?"  
"Would I be taking the last years courses?" I asked.  
"No, you would continue this years courses but bunk in a different place and do activities with said team." He responded.  
"Alright, it sounds like you've got it all figured out." I turned to head to the door and he called after me "Don't go to your dorm room report directly to one of the downstairs guest rooms."  
Heading down the stairs to the guest rooms I could hear many whispers around me."Do you think his team died in a fluke?""It's weird that he's the only survivor.""I mean it looks kind of like he could've done it."  
The last one stopped me cold. My left hand clenched and the floor beneath the nameless voice started to crack and thin needles of silver with drew from it before I could get myself under control. The Sword and Board Bearer, who had whispered the terrible thought. Sprinted away, yelling something about me marking him to be next. The needles withdrew and the floor mended itself. My "vision" darkened as my semblance deactivated from exhaustion. Drawing pure silver directly from Stone did that to it and I felt my back for my new cane which I had gotten in the city before the shuttle. Tapping the rest of the way down the stairs and throughout the hall let me find an unoccupied room, a miracle so close to the Vale Tournament. I rested my cane on the bed and fell asleep instantly, ready to forget the horrendous events of the past two days.

The next morning I woke up to a random Faunas shaking me awake. I panicked and instantly sensed everything in the room with my semblance. Blushing at the revelation that a female was in the room with me I quickly broadened my semblance spectrum of sight to be able to see people instead of such... details.  
"Wake up sleepy head!I will be your friendly Beacon school guide for today in order to help you find your way around school! So let's take off that sleeping mask and get straight to it!"  
She said this while reaching for my face and I recoiled. Taking this as a desire to go back to sleep she said. "No,no,no it may be different at your school but here we wake up sharp and get straight to it!" Faster than thought she reached behind my head and untied my blindfold. She began pulling it off my face and my iron grip was around her wrists. Literally, in my panick my semblance had reactivated of its own accord and drew iron from the walls to encase her wrists and keep her from removing my mask, my only shield. Her eyes widened and I explained quickly. "My-eyes-have-been-badly-damaged-and-not-only-have-a-strong-aversion-to-light-but-are-displeasing-to-the-eyes-of-others."  
"Oh," she faltered. She sheepishly retied the blindfold as I withdrew the iron clamps from the room into the wall. Face-palming, 'there goes my sight for the day' I could all ready feel my semblance faltering. I reached for my cane and brushed a velvety tail on the way. I had known she had it but it still surprised me. I was a stranger to contact, often observing the battlefield from faraway and directing my team to attack where the enemy most faltered. A texture such as her tail's was all but unknown to my hands.I pulled my hand back as if I had touched a hot stove and she giggled.  
"You can touch it, I don't mind, many of the transfers have never even seen a faunas before." "I haven't, and probably never will,"  
"Hmmph," she said, "That attitude won't get you around and up to high places will it?" "Well yes bu-" "No buts, time to get up and get started, come on."  
She led me to the doorway and handed me my cane,  
"I wondered what it was for but now it's pretty obvious. My name is Milly by the way."  
I heard her shoes start wandering down the hallway and let my right hand trail the other side of the wall while my left hand tapped for footing. Every now and again she would direct me toward a door way and explain what was beyond it. We finished the tour of the lower floors and I said thanks and told her I had felt a map of the higher floors. Not entirely a lie, but definitely a large omission of truth. I asked for the time and she said it was 8:30 AM so I said thanks and headed off toward my first class of the day. Assisting Professor ports on the first day of one of the 12 starter semesters happening. I was given this job because everybody assumed I would probably do this forever. I was determined to prove them wrong. Professor Ozpin told me true reason, and that was that, while Professor port had once beena great Hunter, he has fallen from that high position but still loves to have students exemplify to others what a good Hunter or Huntress should do. With live Grimm of course. Settling in the back of the room having had most of my Semblance recharge in the half hour that followed me getting there Port asked me if I would mind grabbing one of his favored example Grimm from the store closet, groaning, I managed to push the Grimm cage across the room while it bucked and jumped inside its cast iron type would have been easier to semblance move it but I would probably need that later to save someone or other. I got back in position and was able to activate my semblance to survey the class. I jumped when the doors burst open 20 minutes late and eight students arrived. They sheepishly took up seats in the front rows, unfavored because it was rumored that the ghost of one or others of Ports ancestors smell of cabbages haunted said seats. The class went along quite smoothly, Port going into one of his rants while the students were allowed to do as they pleased. with mild uses of my semblance I managed to stop 3 fist fights, 10 airplanes in mid-air, and a cabbage smell picture contest from going on. Port got to the climaxe of his rant and I thought he would get through it without any examples needed. But, of course, a first year in the front row volunteered as tribute. Rubbing my forehead, I began to concentrate my aura to help out hte newbie but realized I wouldn't need to. Never to careful, I sharpened her blade and ionized its dust chambers within, prepping it for optimal use. She lost her sword in the first ten secondsof the match, 'Great' I thought,pondering retreiving it for her I settled for making sure it didn't fly too far out of reach. the Boarbatusk bounced off one of the wood pews which confused it but it didn't knowI had reinforced that pew at the last moment. It rolled toward her at max speed and ,thankful she had gotten her weapon back, she tried to cast a hasty boundary rune, noticing that the rune was eighth turned instead of diagonal I tilted her sword changing the momentum amplifier rune she had created into a boundary rune which blocked the Boarbatusk. After that she handled it herself but something had obiously been bothering her, she had repetitively looked at someone in the first row and said something to them. The Boarbatusk now dead, I cleared it up after class and put away the cage.  
"She need any help?" Port asked, slightly bouncing with each word.  
"Just a bit and only because someone kept distracting her." I responded shrugging.  
"Alright, thank you Epsilon, you are dismissed."  
All the other students had already gone. Even Prof. Port had gone to the courtyard to ponder todays events. I walked out the door and professor Ozpin surprised me by helping a student other than me out of a slump. Small, was wearing a cape (weird) and didn't seem too extraordinary. But Ozpin seemed confident that she could be a leader as determined by what he said. He turned the corner towards me and didn't even seem mildly surprised. Sipping his coffee cup (it never seemed to empty, probably a gift from Oobleck, that guy had a pretty intense coffee obsession) he regarded me and said "Well hows the only pacifist in the school doing,hmm?"  
"You know that's not how it is. I'm used to directing a team not fighting wars and frankly I look forward to helping my new team in the best way possible."  
"YOUR new team, eh, I take it that it hasn't occurred to you that I might not make you team leader twice in a row."  
"You know that wouldn't be fair Professor, it seems like the only place I fit anyway."  
"Is the blacksmiths son afraid that he won't be as strong as the other first years?" He chided. "Who knows you could surprise yourself and be the strongest of them all."  
"You know that's not what I mean sir, I imagine it would be incredibly unfair for them." I said as I walked away.  
"We will see," he said when he thought I was out of earshot.


	2. Chapter 2:The Hunter

The next day, I stood on the cliff using my cane while Prof. Ozpin explained the news to the new trainees, They started getting launched off the cliff as indicated by the sounds of the floor launch panels going off. I walked up to Ozpin and said,  
"I bit sudden for this newest batch of 'em eh?" I implyingly asked.  
"The grimm are getting stronger and faster so as well we will, you may want to get in position or you will be left behind."  
"WHAT? I'm actually going to do that again?"  
"I did say I would give you a chance to join a new team."  
I collapsed my cane and attached it to its holster on my back. Activating my semblance, I "looked" at Ozpin.  
"One thing, Epsilon, the first person to be sensed within 20 feet of you is your new teammate." He called.  
"Understood."  
Feeling my plate tremble I crouched, and calling on my semblance, quickly constructed crude armor. My aura would take the hit from the fall, having never gone to the school where they threw you off cliffs to teach you how to land, but any grim in the forest would hear my landing. The ground nearby that I had gotten my armor from trembled once more and a crude hunk of sword burst into my hand, A hand and a half sword, suitable for one handed attacks with an option to wield two handed, an embroidery of the infinity symbol and the letter N was always on the hilt of the swords I would find for Nano and here it was now. Then, I was flying through the air. I sensed a tree incoming and braced for impact, but suddenly, the tree wasn't there anymore, someone had managed to push me out of the way of the tree, at first I thanked them, then I cursed them, instead of a planned impact with a tree, my feet hit the ground first and put me in a roll that required almost half my aura to keep my armor together. Standing, I grabbed my sword which I had magnetized to my back over my armor. Sending out my semblance, I sensed the right direction and proceeded that way. Walking that way, I heard someone else smash into a nearby tree.I turned toward the sound and walked towards it. I don't care that they didn't have a landing strategy but anyone who could take a hit like that and still be alive would be a worthy teammate if ,of course , they were still alive.

I got to the tree and found the person, Though his hair was ruffled, he was simply brushing dust off his arms. He looked my direction, said "That doesn't count"  
And started walking away, following him I said.  
"You saw my blindfold?"  
"Yeees" He responded tentatively,  
"Then it counts, come on" I said, leading the way. Heading toward the relics, He caught up with me and said, waving his hand in front of my face.  
"Wait can you see through that thing?"  
"I would be able to, if I had eyes, take a step to the left." He did so and a grimm jumped past him from behind, it was some form of Ursa, but much more agile, small. "Holy crap, what the heck is that?"  
"Some form of Ursa, probably."  
"Should we kill it?"  
"Of course," I said, raising my sword.  
"But it's so cute," I regarded him blankly.  
"Really?"  
"Yea, I've never seen a pink grimm before."  
My hands clenched and metal shrapnel flew from the ground and repetitively stabbed through the creature, killing it in seconds.  
"Now why did you go and do that?" He said, voice stricken.  
"What you were seeing was a new form of grimm, the same kind of grimm that killed the rest of my previous team. They produce dust from anything they eat and have the ability to detonate it within them. If you see another of its kind kill it, no matter how, no matter where you are."  
"Doesn't seem very harmful, it didn't do anything bad."  
"Do I have to remind you that it entered our presence by trying to behead you?"  
"Oh, yea."  
We continued through the forest killing two more Ursas, a Beowulf, and three Boarbatusks along the way.  
"I'm Hunter, just so you know,"  
"How poetic," I responded

"Mildly, being a hunter has been common place in my family, the job occupation, not the name, so when I was born and pronounced a boy, my dad immediately saw a new war hero to be proud of."  
"When I was born, my father saw another expense, another mouth to feed. He pretty constantly threatened to disown me until he found out about my auras natural semblance. After that, he saw me as an opportunity to make lots of money."  
"OK, uh I grew up in a family of five, with two sisters, you have any siblings?"  
"I did, but he was on my previous team, and you know what happened to them."  
"You are really hard to talk to, you know that right?"  
"Yep"  
After that we walked for a bit in silence. He eventually realized he was following a blind man, literally, and said.  
"How do you know where we are supposed to go?"  
"The relics we need are to the north," showing him my glove, which held a compass on the back of my hand.  
"Oh, you always come prepared for everything don't you?"  
"Yep, Except for that,"  
As a Death stalker burst through the trees and aimed to cut my new friend in two.

He yelped and jumped thirty feet straight up. My eyes would have widened in surprise, but, well, you know. A shield Spiraled out from his arm and four foot blade somehow grew out from his sleeve. He flipped in mid-air and started falling back down. Watching in awe, I noticed my armor being crushed. Hacking at the claw did nothing, so instead I used my semblance and brought swords from the ground, they all came down at once and severed the claw from the Death stalker, I was happy for a moment before the stinger struck me, throwing me back. The dents in my armor becoming painful, I removed it and refined my sword, as well as forming a shield from the old metal. Not a moment too soon as the Death Stalker, burst through the trees with Hunter on it's back, who was repetitively stabbing it with his sword type thing(?). He yelled over to me,  
"Sever its other claw and we can ride it to the relics!"  
I liked this guy's thinking, calling upon the swords I had formed earlier, I did as he wanted and watched as he transformed His sword and shield into a compact death-frisbee launcher. Using that to cut off the stinger, he jumped on its head in front of its eyes it sprinted forward, past me. Leaving its sight, it stopped and looked around for its prey. I ran over and jumped on, clinging to one of its armor ridges. He looked to me for directions, I "looked" at my compass and pointed north. By dangling his feet in front of different eyes, he steered it the right direction and stood in front of its eyes again.  
"I take it you've done this before?" I said "Yep, back in town it would be hard to find a good Death stalker but his one seems healthy enough to sprint for miles."  
"Where exactly do you live again?"  
"A couple miles outside of Vale, my father built a wall around a sort of plantation and every year we head into Vale to catch up on the newest technology. Death stalkers are hard to find but a good Ursa or two normally do it. Last year we started using airships so it's been a while since I was allowed to drive using one of the babies."  
"Okaaaaay-, well the relics are coming up soon how do we stop this thing?"  
"You have any extra cloth we could use?"He said.  
"Technically," I said activating my semblance.


	3. Chapter 3

"Uh, oh"  
"what?"  
"Incoming, Death-Stalker, lets get ground team six and the juggernauts on it."  
"Uh, what?" Said Orion. Waving his hand in front of my face, snapping me out of a flash back.  
"Oh, sorry, that doesn't happen very often. I wonder what caused it though,"  
"You said something about a Death-Stalker"  
"Then we had better get moving,"  
"Why?" Orion questioned.  
"Wow, you gonna keep asking questions or take my advice?"  
We sprinted off into the trees, taking one of the relics with us.

"You know, this may not be the best approach."  
"what do you mean?"  
"Well, I'm not one to judge by appearances but we will certainly make an entrance."  
"Is that a bad thing?"  
"Well no, but misunderstandings start wars, sooo"  
"In that case, lets leave the big guy here."  
"Alright."  
Using the metallic mesh I ripped from the ground we covered the eyes of our friendly neighborhood Death-Stalker. I wasn't sure what to expect from the monster but it laying down and closing its eyes was not something I saw coming. We looked toward the forest-temple-type thing and noticed three of the relics already gone. Instead of dusty books which is what I had for my relics, we had several different swords. Some ranging from 8 feet long down to the size of a dagger. Two were missing on the Left and one was missing on the right. Hunter, seeing the swords, found one that he liked and walked toward it.  
"Wait," I warned "Hmmm?"  
"It's weird, I can't sense anything underneath the pedestals, at least one foot under and four square feet around the pedestals."  
"OK, so there's something soaking up your semblance. So what?"  
"Two years ago that wasn't there." I said, pointing to a three hundred year old tree.  
"Well shi-"  
Before he could finish that bit of profanity I noticed him being launched once again into the air. I activated my semblance before realizing I had wasted it all. I noticed an upturned root that was where Hunter had been standing. Grabbing my sword I advanced slowly towards the tree, being what I was whenever I had nightmares, alone, blind, and scared. I couldn't tell what was waiting in the dark when I was little and I couldn't tell what I was trying to fight now. I heard something whipping toward me and stabbed my sword into the ground sideways, hitting something hard, whatever was whipping toward me collided with my sword and I smelled soil. The tree started screaming as I pulled my sword from the ground, not loud or high enough to hurt my ears which puzzled me because it was consistent, almost like an attack. Mentally shrugging I ran in the direction of the screaming, or at least tried to, before realizing it was coming from every direction. Next a strange sort of sweet scent filled the air, masking anything I would have been able to smell inching toward me. Which was of course, a root. Wrapping around my ankle, the root started lifting me into the air when I realized what was going on, the tree was taking my senses one by one. Making it so I couldn't see any attacks coming. the only other two ways I could get sensory input was taste (I didn't want to use that) and feel, which activated at that moment, telling me I had just gotten smacked rather hard by some part or other of the tree. After that, I was flying, I had no Idea what was going on but I knew I had lost. After being in the air for a few more seconds than made sense, I noticed something strange. I wasn't tired, I started to activate my semblance before I heard a whisper that said "Look. See, with your eyes." Moving muscles that hadn't been able to move nearly minutes earlier startled me. I was frozen in mid-air just in front of a tree. Whipping my head around, I took in the scene. The tree was still screaming. But someone was sprinting toward it. Having grabbed one of the relic swords, the person trailed one of the four foot long ones. The engraving on the sword, clear as my new and old eyesight, blazed emerald green, as an N and an infinity sign. Leaping 20 feet, the unknown swordsman spun in mid-air. The tree starting flaming and its top half slid diagonally to the right, away from the other relics. The stranger stood up and looked at me. His eyes blazing green. Then, he simply evaporated, as soon as he was gone my eyes felt like they caught fire and I had to close them. I tried to open them again but realized with grim certainty that such an action would be impossible. Still rejuvenated, I activated my semblance and noticed something a bit too late. Hunter was still falling. I started running forward to catch him but he face planted into the soil, hard enough to leave an imprint on the ground.  
"Ooooh, that's gotta hurt," I heard from some nearby bushes. Followed by a smack and someone saying.  
"OW!"  
Turning that direction, I threw my hand back and brought a sword towards me. Taking it up in a fighting stance, I sensed the two people emerge from the bushes. with their hands in the air. One was quite short and wearing and a hoody, the other stood tall at around six feet and straightened up with a smile on his face.  
The hooded one said, "We mean no harm,"  
The tall one said, "we don't? I mean, we could and there would be nothing he could do about it, considering he just got beaten up by a tree."  
The short one punched him in the shoulder, but didn't take his eyes off what I was doing. That being the smart thing to do I mentally congratulated him while at the same time running finger donw the blade, sharpening it to a mono-atomic edge. Then, spinning around, I hured the sword in the tall ones direction. He ducked out of the way faster than thought and laughed at me.  
"He can't even throw a sword fast enough to hit me."  
Still holding my arm out I retracted the sword with my semblance, cleaning the blood off the sword I said,  
"You may want to take four steps to the right."  
"Nah I'm good," he responded, sneering.  
The hooded one glaring at the tall one, backed away from the tall one, and was absolved from having a beheaded Ursa Major falling on top of him.  
"Serves him right." Hunter called, hand in the air pointing straight up, his face turned toward us. I walked over to him and helped him up.  
"Just dropping in?" I asked grinning.  
"Oh shut up mister K. by a tree."  
"I don't see any sentient trees around here do you?"  
"yep, and I don't see your 'knight in shining armor' either."  
"Shut up, both of you, will your bickering never end?"  
We both looked at the childlike figure, surprised that he could speak.  
"Whale then, Sir grumpy pants here in a itty bitty wittle sweater must have gotten up out of the side of the bed di'in't he?"  
Hunter said, emphasizing the A in whale. "Run," I said to Hunter.  
"Why?" he asked.  
Before noticing that our new acquaintance was growling. Eyes widening he sprinted off to where we came from, followed by the kid who had pcked up one of the swords. Noticng someone someone groaning I looked around and noticed that the tall one was close to being crushed by the Ursa Major. Clenching my hand I willed some metal underground to form four pillars and rise to pick up the monster. What I got was eight pillars that launched said Ursa into the sky. Raising my eyebrows, I used my semblance to follow the Ursa through the air all the way until it smashed into a Nevermore, snapping its left wing and bringing it to the ground.  
"WHAT, THE F**K IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"  
"Hmm?" I responded "glancing" in the direction of the tall one.  
"Why did you do that?"  
"That?" I said pointing at the falling Nevermore.  
"No, why did you drop an Ursa on me?!"  
"Oh, that, I did tell you to move."  
"YOU COULD'V-, you know you have a point there. Hmmm."  
The awkward silence went on for a few moments before I suggested.  
"You wanna try starting over?"  
"Sure!" He said, brightening up.  
"Call me Epsilon."  
"I'm-" "LOOOOOK PEOPLE!"  
We both jumped, looking at the new arrivals, a pair of people had entered the clearing. One of them, a girl with some LONG hair, started sprinting towards us. The tall one facepalmed and said.  
"Awwwww, crap."  
"What's up?"  
"That's my sister."  
I would've commented but I was suddenly on the ground having been tackled by the girl who was so eager to meet new people. I couldn't seem to get her off me and thought about using my semblance. I decided not, remembering what had happened to the Ursa. Eventually she got up and helped me up, having seemed to mellow out dramatically.  
"Uhhhhh," I stammered.  
"Bipolar"  
"Oh,"  
Then Hunter burst through the trees chasing the hooded one. 


	4. Chapter 4: The musician

Using, of course, the Death-Stalker we had "harnessed" earlier, he chased the hooded one around quite a bit before it got tired, long enough for a bunch of new people to come by, by the end of said chasing the Death-Stalker was missing two legs and an eye. Grimacing I walked over and said.  
"Well, sh*t," "How are we supposed to ride that the rest of the way?"  
"You aren't," said the hooded one as the edges of his sword glowed saphire blue and removed the head of my favorite Death-Stalker.  
"Oh come on, you know how hard it was to catch that thing?"  
"Sorry, It seemed dangerous," He said Sheepishly "Could somebody explain what's going on here?"  
"Nope," All three of us said simultaneously. The question came from one of the new people, a small, timid looking girl that said,  
"OK," and quietly edged away. "So what happens now?" Hunter asked.  
"Prof. Ozpin said we should head to the cliff." Said the hooded guy.  
"But first," I interjected, "I think its time for some proper introductions."  
"Sure soo, new guy, I'm Hunter,"  
"That's cool. I'm Nio,"  
"And call me Epsilon."  
"What about all them?" Nio asked. Pointing at the group near the relics.  
"I figure that if we need to know their names we'll figure it out once we need it. Besides, what are we gonna do? Scream at them to line up and take their names down on a list?"  
"Good point."  
We all split up and, grabbing a relic each, we ran toward the cliff. I kept the sword the tree-killer left behind.  
"Incoming," I managed while rolling and ripping armor from the ground, and not a moment too soon because a Nevermore with a rapidly healed wing seemed quite mad at me. After getting nailed by one of its feather I fell to the ground. Noticing there wasn't even a dent in my armor, I got up and turned to face , Hunter and the tall one stopped as well. The tall ones sister started to stop but her brother told her to keep going. "I've got an idea," Nio said,  
"Same here," I said using my semblance to launch myself at the immense bird. Nearing it I transformed my left arm armor into a compact gauntlet on my right fist and punched the bird in the stomach, Shoryuken style. The bird coughed up another suit of armor and a shield. Grabbing onto its under feathers, I held on and started climbing onto its back.  
"Sup," said the tall one as I got there.  
"I still don't know your name, you know?"  
"Then I should introduce myself, I am Tyler Symphonia,"  
"Okaaaay."  
"Now watch this," Reaching into his knapsack that I hadn't noticed before he produced a small thing which I didn't recognize and a rather large scroll type thing, not the one you write on, the kind of one that was one a Violin, except this one was huge. Pressing a button on the small object it formed into a large germanic, double bass bow. and pressing the button on the scroll, it formed into an energy type intrument far larger than a double bass, stabbing the end pin into the Nevermore, (which screamed) he started playing it. It produced a melody soft and lovely but the could still be heard over the roar of the wind, it made me want to close my eyes and fall asleep, if I could of course fall asleep. The Nevermore, however, decided to do just that. As I noticed this, I "looked" at him.  
"ARE YOU CRAZY?"  
"What? we'll be fine, once we get close to the ground, you just catch us with your semblance."  
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS."  
"Uh, oh. Nio and I we totally banking on that idea."  
Grimacing, I clenched my hand and (making us fall faster btw) drew a chunk of metal from the ground and smacked the Nevermore in the head with it.  
"What aare yyou doing!" he yelled, his voice wavering over the sound of the wind.  
"Saving our lives!" I yelled back. As I hoped getting smacked in the head by metal does tend to wake up Nevermores and dropping the metal, I grabbed Tyler and angled to land back on top of the Nevermore. "OK, do you have any other songs up your sleeves?"  
"Let's see, I have an archaic armor one, a poison one, a sonic based damage one, one that makes people do any command they hear, one tha-"  
"Would that last one work on this Nevermore?"  
"The one to turn stuff into bread maybe. Here let me try."  
"Not that one the other one," But it appears that my voice was lost in the wind because he had already pulled out a Viola sized instrument and started playing.

"What's going on up there?" Hunter asked.  
"I have no idea," I said back.  
Hunter seemed like an OK person but the way he mocked me when we first met wouldn't let me think of him as a friend. He reminded me too much of the scientists, the ones that were certain I wouldn't survive the next batch of tests. I had bunched him in the face because of that and hadn't killed him only because he was lucky enough that there was a Death-Stalker nearby for me to take my anger out on. He had showed extraordinary strength in using his shield to launch Tyler straight up onto the Nevermore. The other groups had appeared to run into trouble up ahead and I suggested he go and help.  
"Sure, you keep an eye on them two up there though, it doesn't seem as if they are happy campers when they encounter each other."  
"I noticed," I responded.  
Suddenly the Nevermore started falling.  
"Oh good, they killed it!" Hunter exclaimed "Yea, but not so good, how are they going to land?"  
"You told Tyler that Epsilon could just use his semblance to slow their fall,"  
"I lied,"  
"What? why?"  
"I can't let them know me unless they can fend for themselves, this is a test."  
As he said that, a chunk of metal flew out of the ground and smacked the Nevermore in the face. After that it stopped falling and flew steady.  
"They didn't kill it, they knocked it out!" Hunter said.  
"Weird."I said. Hunter continued,  
"Why would Epsilon think that's a good idea?"  
"It looks like weren't working together."  
"Hmmm."  
As I heard screams in the background.

Back on the nevermore. I just barely managed to convince Tyler that turning the bird into bread was a bad idea.  
"So what should we do?" He asked.  
"Play the song you told me about that could make people follow orders."  
"I can't,"  
"Why not?"  
"It has to be the only thing they hear other than the orders, otherwise they would follow orders of the ind and bugs even."  
Facepalming, I clenched my hand and the metal I called before to wake the Nevermore came back up and formed tubular headphones.  
"That's not gonna work," He said.  
"Wanna bet?"  
"Nope,"  
"How big is the instrument you're gonna use?"  
"Yay-big," the musician said, Motioning with his hands the size of a violin sized string intrument.  
"Okay, get ready,"  
Pulling out the bow and scroll he prepared and I fit the tubes around the Nevermores bird-earhole- type things and formed a small room around him, marveling at how easy it seemed to manipulate the metal. I heard him start playing and I walked a bit farther away, I didn't want to be adversely affected by whatever tune he was playing. I did, however, Hold the metal apparatus steady following the bird, these dust induced melodies surely could be detonated with jostling and fidgeting. After a few moments the brid starteed to descend adn we disembarked. He pat its wing and ended the tune just before Nio ran up with his sword blazing and removed the head of our, now friendly, Nevermore.  
"Are you gonna do that everytime I get a cool new pet?" Hunter called.  
"Yes, especially if it's 'cool' like this one and the Death-Stalker were."  
"Humph,"  
"Anyway," I interjected.  
"Hm?"  
"Should we start heading to the cliff now? It's getting kind of dark."  
"Sure, we had a beowulf problem up ahead, a weird pink one was scaring people.  
"Was it cute?" Tyler questioned.  
"Nope, it looked exactly like a normal Beowulf except that it was pink and had greater yea, it sort of,"  
"What?" He asked "Um, ask your sister about it."  
"Okay," He said hurrying to catch up to the earlier group We went to the cliff without incident but when we got there it was nearly night time.  
"What do we do?" Tyler asked, his voice quivering slightly.  
"We simply have to light the way." Nio said as his sword blazed blue once again and we saw that a path was etched into the side of the cliff.  
"Blagh, that'll take years." Hunter groaned.  
"It might be the only way up," Nio responded.  
"There has to be another way."  
"I think we might just have to."  
"Come on we're super humans, I might be able to jump that high."  
"Shhhhh, I hear something coming, Hunter, give me a lift." I whispered "what?"  
"Throw me up to the top of the cliff."  
"Uh, ok, jump on my shield," He said. I jumped onto his shield and tried amplifying his throw with my semblance. Then, I was flying through the air, stright up, I reached the top, landed, and clenched my left hand, willing a foot sized area around their feet to move straight up towards me, what I got was a twelve by twelve foot platform that rose steadily all the way up to the top of cliff. It got their and I noticed Tyler powering down and putting away one of his energy instruments. We turned toward Ozpin who I had already known was behind me and I waved just before I blacked out from aura exhaustion.

(Hello all, Unanimousmusician here, I'm going to try to get another couple chatpers in before the end of this wek and then I'll go inactive for about a month, but don't worry, keep sending in OC's and I'll get to it as soon as I come back. I still need story Ideas so please send those to me. Once they're in Beacon there won't be many chances for Nevermore and Death-Stalker fights so I might have to actually dip into the politics and stresses that are learning to be a hunter in a monster fight academy,(Including trouble with the ladies) So Look forward to the next two chapters tomorrow and please be sure to not only review but PM if my story is awesome, good, or terrible. Note! I had to retract this chpter because of sooooo many errors I left out a bunch of stuff such as the sword, getting bit by a wereBeowulf and even mangled an OC Character or two.) 


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you finding new and terrifying ways to stalk me or what?" Said a familiar voice.  
I tried to open my eyes and jump out of bed but there were two problems with that plan. One, my eyelids were fused together by a cattle brand a long time ago, and two, I was utterly paralyzed from the neck down.  
"You were right, your eyes are pretty gnarly." She went on. "I'm not surprised that you don't want anyone to see them."  
Anger showed on my features,  
"YOU LOOKED AT MY EYES?" I fumed.  
The one thing I ask for, the one thing I actually want, and they let the average person walk by and strip my armor from me.  
"No silly, I was just joking, look there's even the same knot I tied last time still in place." She said, grabbing my hand and lifting my head so I could feel the knot.  
"Why can't I move?" I asked having regained much of my composure.  
"You went ahead and broke your aura."  
"WHAT?" "Another joke, but seriously, yesterday you used your aura far past the exhaustion point. So much in fact that it went after you body fat and burned it to make energy. Nice six pack by the way."  
"So what happens now?"  
"You're out of beacon!" I heard someone else say.  
"WHAT?" I said opening my eyes, but my eyelids didn't stop at the edges of my eyesight, they continued opening to the point were my eyes popped out of my head, then they flew away, off the face of the earth to commune with the spirits of a monkeys uncle.  
"Now I'm gonna restart your Epsilon unit." I heard Milly say back on earth.

"WHAT?" I screamed jumping out of the bed waking from a bad dream. Milly stood there bewildered but across the room from me.  
"Uhhhhh, are you ok?" She asked.  
"Yea," I said "Are you stalking me? Because this is the second time this week I've woken you somehow."  
"Sorry, must be coincidence." As I said that, Tyler started tuning one of his energy instruments in the hall. Pointing that way, I raised my eyebrows.  
"You can go talk to them but only after you put on your clothes." I was emberassed for a moment before realizing I was wearing a hospital gown.  
"Why did they take my clothes?"  
"You've been out for three days, your team is HENT."  
"What does that mean?"  
"Hent means 'seize'" She said.  
"That's it? Hent?"  
"Yep, Ozpin up there must be busy with something more important than you guys. Almost all the names are strangely simple in that way."  
"Weird, WAIT, Hunter Epsilon, Nio, Tyler."  
"Yep, that's them."  
"That means Hunter is the team leader."  
"Okay, what did you expect?"  
"Nothing, nevermind. Where are my clothes?"  
"In your bedside table, use the curtain if you are gonna change." She said, going back to folding some scrubs.  
"Thanks."  
After getting changed I walked into the hall tapping the way forward, my semblance still exhausted.  
"G'morning," said Hunter, quite happy about something.  
"Hello," I said back, more than a little glum.  
"S'wrong?" Tyler asked finally finishing tuning the final instrument in his arsenal.  
"Nothing, I'm alright, what did I miss?" I said, changing the subject.  
"No important stuff, Tyler here murked a Boarbatusk in Prof. Port's class. Other than that not much went on."  
"Any classes for you guys today?"  
"It's saturday, soooo, no."  
"Well what do you guys wanna do?"  
"Other than waiting on you we didn't have anything planned."  
"Hmmm. You guys wanna check out the training rooms?" I asked.  
"Nah, We saw 'em earlier this week," Hunter responded.  
"And the way you fight, I don't see the training room surviving it," Commented Tyler.  
"Okay," I said "What time is it then?"  
"'Round noon,"  
"Alright, the airships should still be making trips to the city, we could go explore."  
"That actually sounds like a good idea," Hunter said."Nio, you coming?"  
"Sure," He said Jogging to catch up.  
Making it to the airship was simple enough but once we got there we noticed tons of people simply standing outside the entrance of one.  
"What's wrong?" I questioned, pushing my way to the front and leaving behind my teammates.  
"Someone broke an airship." I heard behind me. Not bothering to turn around to see(duh, blind) him, I said "Hello, Cardin."  
This annoying guy had been kicking my cane and tripping me whenever he could since he first got to this school. He was a first year and had made it his duty to bother everyone on the campus all at once, I couldn't imagine how bad things were for the people in his batch of Hunters. I, being a year ahead, was absolved from most of the crap he pulled in his classes except those I assisted teachers in that he had.  
"How's my favorite little blind orphan?" He said while kicking my cane away.  
"Go away, I'm not to be messed with today."  
"Pfft, what are you going to do? You using your cane means your, oh so strong semblance is out of juice. Hey, get your hand off me!" I couldn't tell what was going on but I heard him land a few feet away.  
"Wow that had to hurt," Hunter said laughing.  
"You didn't have to throw him so far," Tyler said holding back some laughs himself. He did it poorly, and it came out as a high pitched giggling. All three of us stared at him for a moment.(Me simple looking in the direction the giggling came from.) He stopped immediately and Hunter retrieved my cane.  
"Thanks," I said annoyed at having been so utterly useless.  
"Why didn't you toss him?" Tyler asked emphasizing the word 'you'.  
"I can't," I said, "looking" down.  
"Oh I get it, like your not allowed to bully those below you." Hunter assumed.  
"Not that, I pushed myself too far and now I don't know how long it'll be until my aura recharges." I said, even more glum than before.  
"So thats what was bothering you,"  
"Yea," I said.  
We made it to the front of the line and Tyler rushed forward, brushing my arm as he went.  
"Julia," He said, "What's wrong?" I heard some coughing and a deep, gravely, voice said.  
"I don't know, I feel weird." I heard the sound of one of Tylers instruments forming and covered my ears. I didn't know what he was doing, but I was almsot certain it had something to do with the group of onlookers. Tapping Hunter and Nio, I hoped that they had understood and done the same. Even with my ears covered I still heard the sound and felt the urge to leave this place. It was a single, shrill, note that pierced my very soul, it told me that I was somewhere I should not be, in a place unholy even to those who scorned god. It ended after what seemed like an eternity and I heard Tyler pick up who I assumed to either be his girlfriend or sister. His footsteps echoed past me and I followed, every now and then tapping the ground to make sure I wasn't about to run into something. Using a mental map, I concluded that he had gone with the girl to the hospital. I turned back to run into Hunter and Nio who had been following me following Tyler.  
"Wh-who do you th-think that was?" asked Nio, tremors from the note still racking him.  
"I-i d-don't kknow" I stuttered, finding myself in a worse state than he.  
"Probably not important," Hunter said nonchalantly, I "looked" his direction.  
"Wh-why aren't you m-messed up? I asked, still inadvertently shivering.  
"Headphones," He responded, "Bass dropped just as he started his note," Handing me bulky, noise canceling, headphones.  
"L-lucky," I grumped.  
"Come on," He said, his voice heading back in the direction of the airship.  
"Wait!" I said. "Don't you wanna make sure Tyler's ok?"  
"HAH! after he played a note like that you don't think he wants to be alone?" Hunter yelled back.  
"He has a point," I said and followed him.  
"I'll stay," Nio said, "They're gonna need someone to lean on."  
"How gracious," I responded, walking away.

I woke up with a boy in a blue hood sitting next to my brother who had fallen asleep. He sat motionless, almost military-like, it displayed such a background clearly that he could sit so long until even these hours of the night. I thought, noticing my clock saying 3:59 AM. He appeared to be waiting for something. I stared at him for a few moments before he met my gaze with startling blue eyes under his hood. I had closed mine as soon as he looked but I knew he knew I was awake.  
"It isn't polite to stare," I said, eyes still closed, voice back to normal. He said nothing. Opening my eyes one at a time, I looked at his face, He looked young, around 15-14 I would say but I had seen him earlier at the relic hunt and beacon never accepted anyone younger than 16 into the school. His gaze never wavered, I wondered about that until I realized that he seemed paralyzed in my conscious presence. The way he had been sitting completely changed. He had been sitting relaxed but alert earlier before, now he was tensed like a cat. Ready to pounce, or run away.

"Hello there," I said tentatively, "Are you OK?"  
"Y-yea, I'm fine," He stuttered cutely. "F-funny you should ask that, c-considering you're the one in a hospital bed."  
"I was wondering about that," I said, "What happened?" "N-nobody knows, you sort of fainted at the airship," His voice getting stronger.  
"I remember that part, then I remember hearing this terrible sound and that's it."  
"The terrible sound you heard was proba-bably the note your brother played to get everyone to stop st-staring at you."  
"Ok, I think I've heard him practicing that note before, but in the shower with his voice," I joked. His eyes seeming like the only light in the entire hall widened and he said. "Well you must be feeling much better to joke around."  
"Yep," I responded, "Now all I need is a warm blanky and mommy and I'll feel all better."  
He looked down, "Probably the same thing would help me." He said.  
"What do you mean?" I asked, panicking, trying to get those blue eyes to look back at me again.  
"Nothing," He said, "I shouldn't've brought it up."  
"No it's fine," I said, alarms going off in my head, "Talk to me," I told him.  
"I'd rather not." He said still looking away.  
"Well, you'll just have to spit it out because now I'm intrigued." I urged.  
He looked up, pain in his features imminent.  
"Why must you know? why do you dig where you don't belong?"  
"Because your are in pain, and harboring it, letting it fester within you will not help."  
"It would be dumb to tell you, because the you would tell your brother and so on, who I am will get out and everyone will see me as the monster I was created to be."  
"I wouldn't tell anyone, I promise."  
"You would try, I know you would, I can see it in your eyes, but you wouldn't be able to, it would somehow get out, probably through no fault of your own."  
"If you are sure you aren't ready to talk about it now. I know there will be a time when you are. When that time comes, don't go blabbing to my goofball brother here, come to me, I'm sure I will be used to being so, different when that time does come, moving the blanket and indicating my hairy right arm. His eyes widened once more, and then faded to normal as we watched the hair receed and, eventually, completely disappear. He nodded and pulling his hood farther down, leaned back and, apparently, fell asleep. I rolled over in my bed and did the same.

(Hello all, me again, sorry for the late chapter again, I'm gonna do my best to get another in tomorrow morning and one sunday afternoon but after that, I'll be going away for awhile. Unless, of course, I can find a good computer and post a chapter or two here or there. Once I get back though, be ready for a good, at least, 10 or so chapters. Lot of bomb shells not dropped this chapter but look forward to the explosions tomorrow if I can get it done.)


	6. Chapter 6: The Misunderstood

I woke up with a sunbeam falling on my face. I had always described that as the best way to wake up and I could tell that today would be a beautiful day. I looked around at the slightly sunlit interior of the hospital wing type thing that beacon found necessary. A faunas was across the room tending to a patient. Everything seemed so right, except for that weight on top of me. Looking to see what it was, I saw Short blonde hair and a very boyish face. His head partially covered by his hood, I was, however, able to identify a tattoo on the back of his neck. I looked away because I had heard one of my brothers instruments forming and wanted to here the music he was going to play. Instead of it being on the ground in playing position, his largest instrument, almost 10 feet tall, was over his head, where it was normally a cooling blue, it was red and its form was erratic. His eyes were blazing in anger(Not literally, but yikes.) He looked ready to pound me into the floor. He saw me watching and lowered the gigantic Stradivarius. He pointed at the kid and I shrugged, going "Eeep," as he shifted as a result of my movement. My brother still livid, motioned that I throw him onto the floor. I shook my head and nudged him, trying to wake him up.

Something had started to smash into my car, I was driving as fast as this convoy truck could go, but obviously one of the cops had caught up to me and was quite mad about what I stole. I looked into the rearview mirror and was surprised, there was no cop car it was a motorcycle, not even one of those police motorcycles. Two people were riding it, they pulled up to being level with my driver side window and I noticed both were male. And both wearing helmets.  
"Is there some way I can help you two fine gentleman?" I said as seriously as possible.  
"You could hand over your truck without making us kill you," the one driving said. Voice severely muffled but somehow still making it through the helmet.  
"Now that's a joke," I yelled back over the wind.  
"Of course its a joke, nobody ever just makes it easy on themselves and us."  
"Not that part, the part about killing me was the funniest thing."  
"Hmmm?" They both said as I slowed down and stopped the truck, Slipping my weapons into my sleeves, I got out and waited for them to come back. They did, and both got off to face me.  
"The stakes of this fight?" Said the driver who pulled of his helmet and revealed a rainbow of hair on his head.  
"If you win, obviously I'm dead and you get truck, if I win, I get a new motorcycle and the knowledge that I removed two loudmouthed pricks from this world."  
"You want to fight both of us at once?" The other one said, noticeably darker skinned than the other.  
"Yep, but I never kill those I don't know the name of," I said truthfully.  
"I'm Buster, and this here is Basher," Said the one with loud hair.  
"Names fit for the dogs you are," I said, taking a fighting stance.(It gets a little graphic here, so unless you are okay with that, skip to the next double space.)  
They both ran toward me, and, collectively drawing for swords from their backs, jumped the rest of the distance toward me. The first one to get to me received a fist in the stomach and flew into the sky. Buster still ran toward me his swords trailing behind him, I snapped my wrists and my coat's arm cloth turned into chain-mail. Buster jumped once more and attacked with both swords slashing down at me, I blocked with my now armored arms but wasn't ready for him to continue slashing down into a front-flip and, landing, took a slash at my neck faster then I could blink, I managed to lean back just enough so that his sword didn't get my neck but cut a little under my eye and nicked the bottom of my nose. Flicking my wrist this time, a dagger appeared in my hand and activated my semblance. Time slowed down around me and I stabbed him in the shoulder. The wound was minor and my semblance dispersed, he grinned and attacked again, a floor swipe meant to sever my legs, a variation of a move I was fond of which I showed to him now. Flipping over him, I landed behind him and turned full circle, severing his Achilles tendon. He fell to his knees and I heard something else, tilting my head. I located the sound and stabbed Buster a couple more times.  
"Why?" He asked.  
"You'll C 4 yourself soon enough," I said laughing. I loaded the motorcycle into the truck having to move around some of the Dust cargo boxes. Basher landed behind me and I leaned against the truck, impressed.  
"You know that fall would kill normal people right?" I asked.  
"Yea, lets see if it kills you," he said, racing towards me.  
"Ah, ah, ah," I said. "It Looks as if your friend there is in need of medical attention."  
He lowered his swords and turned.  
"Bro!" He yelled as I flicked my other wrist and a detonator appeared my hand.  
He turned toward me again eyes filled with hate.  
"I'll kill you for that." He growled.  
"Oops," I said pressing the button.  
First, it was only his brothers wounds that started beeping and he still ran toward me, then his stomach started emitting the same sound. And I said "Oops," again. Revealing the spike covered gauntlet in my left hand. Jumping in the truck I sped off as Basher lowered his swords and exploded. Pieces of him flying everywhere, his arm on the wall, his feet where they were. One of his eyes landed on the windshield and I calmly activated the windshield wipers. Relishing the sound and smell of victory, the explosives still going on in the background.(See? I told you.)

(Having won the fight he drove on, with a new motorcycle and two more victories under his belt. For those who skipped ahead.)  
Someone kept nudging me, I didn't want to get up and snuggled closer to the bed.  
"Such a soft bed," My mind thought sleepily. "WAIT! BED?" I opened my eyes and jumped off of her, just in time to get slammed from behind with something huge. I was launched across the room and collided with a wall.  
"WHAT, THE F**K WERE YOU DOING IN BED WITH MY SISTER!" Tyler Raged, anger and confusion in his eyes and death on his mind.  
"Well, uh, you see, um, what happened was. Yea I got nothing."  
He charged forward and jumped into the air. His gargantuan fiddle raised above him. I backed into the wall and stopped, closing my eyes, ready for the worst. Nothing happened, I opened my eyes one-by-one. Noticing Tyler hanging in the air by his instrument. Feet waving around, trying to figure out why he couldn't move.  
"Isn't that luck?" I heard across the room, Epsilon walking in. Hand in the air and his entire body enveloped by the black outline I had just started seeing him using whenever he activated his semblance now.(It started after that one guy moidered the tree but I forgot to include it, Facepalm.)  
"GRRRRRR!" Tyler growled, 10 feet in the air.  
"Who knew the scroll of all his instruments were magnetic." He continued. "I wanted to 'see' the show but obviously its gone a bit too far,"  
"What do you mean?" I asked firing up at the thought that he had been the one to put me in the bed with the girl.  
"Cardin walked in about half an hour ago and said he needed to, visit an old friend." He said grinning.  
"You couldn't have stopped him before he hit me the first time?" I asked.  
"Nope," He said almost laughing, "That was 'part of the show' I was talking about."  
"Hey I'm still hanging here!" Tyler said, his hands slipping.  
"You gonna left him down before he falls?" I asked.  
"Didn't I say ALL his scrolls were magnetic?" He said as Tyler's hands slipped the rest of the way and let go. He was now hanging by his Knapsack.  
"Very funny," he said, rotating slightly.  
Hunter walked into the room, looked at Tyler hanging in mid-air, and walked backwards out of the room. Lowering Tyler, Epsilon left saying he was going to the team's room. I started walkig that way, but Tyler pulled me aside and said.  
"If I EVER catch you in bed with my sister again, I won't bother using my instruments to hit you, I will gut you with sound, do you hear me? Even, ESPECIALLY, if its another 'accident', You got that?" Not waiting for an answer he left, leaving me alone with the girl.  
"I wasn't lying about what I said," She told me. "You can always come talk to me. I'm Julia, just so you 't your eyes blue?"  
"Nope," I said begrudgingly, "Thanks," I said and left, leaving her alone to wonder what she was.

(Sorry all, this took longer than expected, my computer decided to restart to install updates today so I had to submit this from my Phone. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, PM me if there's something I could do better of if you have an OC you want me to add, still sometime left before Epsilon and them learn the names of the rest of the teams but hurry. I always welcome story Ideas so PM me with one if you think you have a good one.)


	7. Chapter 7

Name: N/A Known as: Epsilon Walking into the room I looked around. Three beds were unmade and having been slept in, the last bed was untouched. Walking over to it, I sat down. Deactivating my semblance, I laid back, covered my head with a pillow and held my breath, I stayed this way for about a minute before Hunter walked in the room.  
"Hey," he called, "have you seen Nio around?"  
Breathing again, I threw the pillow back to its position.  
"Nope," I responded nonchalantly.  
"Were you just trying to suffocate yourself?" He asked warily.  
"Nope," I said again, offering no explanation. Grabbing my cane, I walked out the door tapping the way forward.  
"How did you know where your cane was?" Hunter asked, following me.  
"That's where I always put it so why would I be surprised so as to where it is. Soon enough the whole school will be that way," I finally offered.  
"What do you mean?" He said.  
"Wow, you ask a lot of questions,"  
"I'd take it as a compliment, it means you are interesting."  
"I will take it as you doing your job as team leader, which, while gratifying, is not an over the top reason to answer your prying questions."  
"So what would be an 'over the top reason' for you?"  
I stopped and turned towards him. "You actually caring." I said coldly.  
"Now that, I have to question," He said, getting angry "We were best buds the day of the initiation day crap and now you're always so hostile, you must have hit your head harder than Ozpin thought you did on Tuesday 'cuz now you're being a dickhead!" He said, yelling at this point. I stomped the ground and clamps from the floor pinned his neck, wrists, and ankles to the nearest wall.  
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S BEEN TAKEN FROM ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHY I DO WHAT I DO! YOU DON'T KNOW THE FEAR THAT I FELT EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE UNTIL I KNEW IT COULD NOT HAPPEN AND EVEN THEN WAS FULFILLED!" I roared.  
"Yes," He said, "I do," he croaked as he turned his head slightly, to show me a scar he had on his ear.  
Flashback-  
Looking up, unable to move. Tiny hands gripping at air, two adults argued over my fate.  
"HE CAN'T STAY! LOOK WHAT HE DID TO OUR FIRST BORN! HE'S DANGEROUS! HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED!" A man yelled, ghosts of my past flickering in front of my eyes.  
"He's just a babe, he didn't know what would happen, he didn't mean to hurt him," A woman cried in anguish. "Spare the boy, send him away, but please, don't send him out into the forest alone."  
"I will send him to the town, to the blacksmith, see how well his metal working abilities are valued there." The man responded, having calmed down quite a bit.  
Flashback End-  
The clamps pinning Hunter disintegrated and my "sight" dimmed.  
"Who am I?" I asked, almost whispering.  
"They named you James, but that isn't who you are."  
"How do you know this?" I asked, "I'm older than you."  
"My mother didn't know this but my father had trained me to know who you are, to one day find you, and avenge my older brother."  
"What happened?" I pleaded.  
"I was taught that you were a mostly quiet baby, but when you did get loud, it was terrifying. The way I got this scar was that one day, mother was feeding us, but you did not want to eat, you cried and it was like the world was ending, apparently you had started rending the kitchen apart, knives flew from their drawers and swirled around the room, one nearly cut my ear off, but a doctor was able to patch me up."  
"What happened to the first born," I asked, fearing the answer.  
"He adored you," Hunter asked "He saw you for who you really are, not the monster of an image my father has of you or the fear my mother felt, she loved you, but was afraid of what would happen when you were older and your abilities stronger. As bad as it was when you cried, it was apparently worse when you laughed, our brother was thick skinned, and very stubborn. He loved to hear you laugh, but one day we was playing with you, and you laughed, and he happened to be sitting above the wrong ore deposit. That night, our parents fought, and sent you to th-"  
"I know that part," I interrupted him, my defenses going back up, I knew this was a lie, it had to be. I would never hurt someone, even if it was someone I hated, especially if it was someone who loved me.  
"How do you know all this?" I asked harshly.  
"Like I said, my dad trained me to know who you were, to know all your insecurities, to hurt you in every way possible, his hate masked his eyes as much as yours are, he laughed the day your 'father' put out your eyes. He saw you as a monster, I grew to know you better than I knew my younger brothers."  
"Prove it," I said quietly. He walked to a wall and carved an N and an infinity sign with his sleeve blade. "That day, of my initiation type thing in the emerald forest. That guy who saved you looked like Nano, he fought like him too, blinded by your sight, you didn't even notice."  
"What color are my eyes," I asked.  
"Emerald green," He said, just like my mother's and those of my oldest brother's." He said, his voice nothing more than a whisper. He put his hand on my back.  
"I'm not afraid," He said, "I know you couldn't, wouldn't hurt anyone, especially if you loved them." He said, "Not a single bruise," He said, Indicating his wrists, ankles, and neck.  
"You and me against the world, Bro," he said, offering his hand. I took it, and we shook on it, my sight having returned.

(Short but intense chapter, expect a bit more before I leave!)


	8. Chapter 8: The Duels

The Next Day Name: N/A Known as: Epsilon After classes I had gotten back to the dorm room from my classes. I had jumped into bed, letting my blindfold get slightly askew.  
"Hey bro, you know where we get mail from?" Hunter said, walking into the room. I winced, memories from yesterday coming back to me. Rolling out of bed, I straightened my blindfold and said.  
"Yea, follow me." Leading him to the school's post office, I said, "So does us being brothers change anything? It isn't everyday I find out I'm not without family in the world."  
"Meh," He said, "Us being blood brothers doesn't really mean anything unless you're gay, are yo-?"  
"Nope."  
"Than yea, everything should stay the same, Nano was probably more of a brother to you than I will ever be."  
"Why do you need to go to the post office anyway?" I asked.  
"My dad wants me to send weekly updates about how I'm being a douchebag to you,"  
"Okay, so what are you gonna tell him?"  
"I'm gonna tell him that the school tolerates no bullying or other derrogatory forms of punishment between students,"  
"You could win Scrabble using only the words in that sentence," I said.  
"Local champ," He said back grinning "Good thing it's not a total lie, if Ozpin new of any bullying I'm sure he would put a stop to it." He continued.  
"I wouldn't be so sure," I said, sensing Cardin around the corner. He, hearing my voice grinned and looked around the corner, the smile walked off his face as he saw Hunter and me not using my cane. He started backing up and I said, "No,no,no, not today." And clenched my hand, pinning him to the wall by his armor.  
"Awwwww, look at the little bug we have trapped here." I said, dipping into my sadistic side.  
"I will SMASH you," he said, anger clear on his face.  
"Thats funny, because I could do that to you right now." I said grinning and started compressing him between his front and back armor plates.  
"Epsilon, quit it." Hunter said behind me. Ignoring him I continued though somewhat slower. "James, stop." He said again. I looked at him and dropped Cardin.  
"Don't make me think my father is right," He said seriously. Cardin sprinted away, but he was grinning once again, now he knew how to get to me.  
"Whatever," I said, turning the last corner to show him the post office type room the school has. I waited for him in the hallway, being in a room full of useless to me papers didn't make me feel great. The atomic bonds in ink most often being covalent meant that I couldn't even sense any written words. Hunter walked back out with a box.  
"Whassat?" I asked, "Torture weapons from Papi?"  
"He wouldn't need to send them," He answered, "I came to this school already equipped with anything I would need to kill you." He said jokingly, but I sensed someone around the corner and dwon the hall snicker and run off. I didn't need my semblance to know it would be a recently embarassed mace wielder.  
"Crap," I said facing that direction, him already out of range to pull back or even sense.  
"Hmm?" Hunter asked.  
"Nothing," I said, resolving to hunt him down later.  
Hunter shrugged, "They said this was for Nio."  
"Alright, we can just leave it on for when he comes back,"  
"Don't you wanna see whag it is?"  
"Nope, people need their limits, their boundaries, I have a feeling this will be one of his."  
"K," He responded and we headed to the room.  
Getting there, I looked around and said, "You guys did a bit of remodeling ,eh?" Tyler looked up and said,  
"Yep, we figured it would be more conservative," waving his hand toward the new quadruple decking bunkbed.  
"Pfft, this would be more conservative," I said, using my semblance to remove most of the nails and screws used and then using them to attach the beds to the roof. Attempting to pick up the ladder, I said "Blegh, Aluminum,"  
"What?" Tyler said, "It's lightweight."  
"Not for me," I said, walking over and picking it up. I handed it to Hunter who broke into fourths.  
"Hey!" Tyler cried in protest before seeing me pin the, now smaller, ladders to the beds using the remaining metal and nails.  
"Oh," He said. Nio tried to jump out of one of the beds and knocked his head on the ceiling.  
"Ouch," He said monotonely, "how 'bout a little warning next time?" He said rubbing his head.  
"Oh, Nio! You've got mail!" Tossing the box at him.  
"Hmmm?" He said turning his head just in time to get hit in the face with his package.  
"Oh come on!" He said, voice slightly muffled.  
So what's the plan today?" I asked.  
"How 'bout some training?" Nio called from atop his bed.

We got to the training room building and looked for an open room, finding one, Hunter punched in the code for a standard terran room and I punched in an alterante code, the terran didn't change so he shrugged and went inside. Walking in, I suggested we warm up and the ndo some One-v-one duels. Hunter scowled playfully at me and suggested the same thing. I raised my hand and everyone else eyed the floor, wondering where my weapon would burst from, instead dust rose off the ground and swirled around the room before forming into a sword, shield, chestplate, and helmet, on top of me. Hunter raised his eyebrow.  
"The code I punched in dropped some metal fillings into the room so I wouldn't need to rip up the floor to form a weapon." I explained.  
We stretched and Hunter and I took up stances across from each other. We settled and I motioned that he start. He jumped, something I expected he do, having seen him jump high before, his weapon appearing in his hand and his shield forming. I raised my hand to relieve him of his weapons before noticing his weapons were made of a polycarbonate alloy similar to aluminum. I raised my shield just in time and bashed him back across the room. He appeared next to me with an unprecedented burst of speed."So that's his semblance," I noted mentally. Putting my sword in his way, I felt it make contact, his aura rebounded it as if it was nothing. My turn to attack, I flipped over him, I would've met his eyes mid-air, but, you know. I landed and bashed his shield with mine, him being right handed and I being lefted handed both of our shields were to the right of me. I lifted him of the ground slightly and increased the speed of my sword using my semblance. He slid his shield against mine, knowing he could block my strikes with impunity after that, I backed upo slightly and he followed. This time jumping quite low, he landed back down quickly and slammed me to the floor. Knocking my sword and shield away he hesitated with the final strike and I willed with all my being to jump up and tackle him backward, I didn't but someone else did. My vision suddenly healed, I looked just in time to see Nano jump past me and slam Hunter back, I formed a sword for him, and together we struck, me slashing up he bashed forward with the hilt of his sword, a manuever me and Nano had practiced often. Hunter, overwhelmed went on the defensive, I threw my shield, rounding and curving it mid-air to hit Hunter from behind. He was knocked to the ground and the duel signaled over, however, Nano was still on the attack, stabbing down, Hunter's aura, now depleted, wouldn't be able to take such a hit. I pullled Nano's sword away and tackled him." LEAVE," I screamed, He looked at me and dispersed. I was closing my eyes already but it still hurt as if it was a new wound. I offered my hand and he took it without hesitation and I channeled some of my now repleted aura into him, healing any wounds he may have accumulated.  
"Thanks," He said.  
"Thanks?!" I exclaimed, "I nearly killed you!" "But you didn't, and that's the important part. That Nano thing you can do is pretty sick," he said.  
"Hmph," I grumped, "Not if I can't control it."  
"Our turn!" Tyler called, jumping off the bench and onto the field.  
"Sure you want to do this?" Nio asked, a strange glove on his hand.  
"What do you think that is?" I whispered to Hunter.  
"I'd imagine it's his weapon, remember he didn't have one Tuesday?"  
"You're right," I said, "I wonder what it does."  
Tyler reached into his knapsack and pulled out two scrolls. connecting them at the top, he activated both to reveal dual sided axes on both sides. Manuevering it around him he showed off for a second. Nio on the other hand,(literally) Pressed a button on the glove and whispered something into it. I sensed electrons coursing through the air and covered Hunter's eyes. Whatever was to happen next was gonna be bright.

(Sorry to leave you guys with a cliff hanger but DON'T worry it will only be for about a day or two, hang in there, thanks for all the support and the other tow OC characters I got this week!) 


	9. Chapter 9

Name:Cole Last Name:N/A

"Another day, another dollar," My father had always said and look where that got him. Glancing at his nearby skeletal remains. Getting up and looking around, I noticed something was strange but couldn't place my finger on it. The surrounding forest looked fine, no fires or hunters coming by, me and Beacons students didn't exactly get along. Sprinting up to the top of a tall hill, I looked around. My caravan had seemed to leave me behind. I could, however, see smoke rising in the distance. Probably one of the many making a cooking fire for breakfast. I descended from the hill in that direction, them having stopped means I could catch up by the time they finished cooking, even if my horse had abandoned me. I got there, soon after smelling the sweet scent of Larissa preparing some eggs and ham, as well as something else, something I had never smelled before. I neared the clearing where they had made temporary camp and collapsed. My entire body wracking in pain. I felt bones snap and reform. That strange smell disappeared, and that feeling in the back of my mind that something was out of place went away. I must have cried out in pain because I saw Frankie appear through blurred eyes. "Cole! Are you ok?!" she called to me.  
"Iar'mm friirnme." I said through a half formed mouth.  
"No, you aren't," she said and covered me in a blanket.  
"It happened again, didn't it?" She continued.  
"I guess," I said, able to speak normally once again.  
"Come on, lets get you inside an into some clothes." I rummaged around and found some jeans and a shirt my size before everyone else came outside wondering what was going on. The life of being a nomad wasn't easy, and wasn't complicated, whenever we neared a city we traded for clothes and slight improvements, even most times for money, which we saved for months. By now, most of our caravan had trucks instead of covered wagons as it was a few generations ago. We were mostly hunter/gatherer type people but I just had to be the exception. I was a producer, in charge of knowing how much we could cook at any point and how much we could sell in town, I was also in charge of making things from the raw materials that the Hunters brought me. Larissa was my fianc as determined by the elders of our nomadic life, those of us who had lived to the age of 40 were allowed to order the others around as they pleased, they were treated with great respect, even if their choices were not favored by everyone else. I was not one of these people. I believed Larissa was more beautiful than any of the other women, and so believed everyone else, which was, of course, the problem. "Why should, the person who does the least work, the least hunting, get the most beautiful of the women?" They thought to themselves, and I knew even Larissa would have chosen one of the stronger hunters as a husband. Theoretically, if I were to die, Larissa would be allowed to choose among them as she pleased. Which explained why they had 'faltered' as a fast, pink, beowulf had attacked me and bitten my arm. I expected to be a goner, but after the beowulf bit me, it simply ran away, this caused me to get mocked more than ever. "So gross even a beowulf wouldn't eat him," they said, laughing. Until one night, I had gone to sleep seething, having been picked on all day, and had had a nightmare of tearing through three hunters, I relished the dream, but called it a nightmare, my rampage only stopped when I saw Larissa's face, terrified at what I was doing, I had stopped, and sprinted into the forest, waking up the next day in a forest clearing, missing all of my clothes, which had been found shredded in my tent. I had had to make some new ones, having sold the extras the day before while in town and immediately afterward, was called in to talk to the elders. Commended for my devotion to the tribe having apparently "sold the clothes off my back" in order to provide for them. They told me I was to marry Larissa in 11 years time. I am 10 and that had happened two months ago. Last night, again the hunters had made fun of me, and the same thing almost happened, except that the tribe could not take the deaths of more hunters, they were annoying, but the tribe needed them, more deaths would devastate us, and I knew that better than most, being the bean counter. So I restrained myself and ran away into the forest. Now, I took count of the clothes, washing materials, and other things, using a stick from a different tree for each, and carving a stripe into it with a knife I had bought ten harvests (Happens four times a year, do the math) ago while I was in town. It had been passed around a lot, and its handle was worn, its blade dull. I had done this often, until the day my whole life was changed. The elders called me into a tent, and called upon the gods to bless me through our spiritual conduit, having been touched by a god when he was young, he had lived for an unprecedented time within the tribe, almost eighty years he had lived, and when he was told by the god of his blessing, he was also told he was able to pass it on but, fearing what would happen if he did, he had only ever done it to one other person, his son, who had gone mad with power and required ten hunters together to kill, as it was, four of them died. The other elders believed I had been cursed and thought that the eldest was giving me the blessing to counteeract it. Then the eldest explained that while I was turned, I was communing woth the spirits of forgotten animals, animals whose souls and memories had been trapped by the soulless grimm. He took my hands and said words I could not understand, in a different language, the language the great hunters of Beacon spoke. After that, added onto my duties was a tutelage by the eldest, together, we induced my animal state and he noticed that I took the form of a different grimm every time I turned, depending upon what needed to be done. Before the blessing, while turned I was angry beyond control only able to divert myself from killing with all of my substantial mind power. Afterward I was able to direct myself with ease and strength. I noticed that whenever I turned, I destroyed my clothes, calculating against this, I found that buying some clothing that transformed with me or that would stretch, would be a good investment. I consulted with the elders and they agreed it was a good idea. For a while, I worked overtime, saving up for such a garment. I found one for a low price, only around 200 dollars, that was elastic and self cleaning, as well as very strong. Promising to stop all incoming projectiles, which I assumed meant everything but wizard bolts and smites from the gods. I wore it without exception and it indeed helped. Using my 'gift' I could move mountains and tackle prey much beyond that of any hunter. At one point, great hunters came through our land and started removing the trees. I protected us, their wizard bolts pinging uslessly off my garment as I changed into a gargantuan creature and ripped their machines to pieces. Larissa began to admire my strength and prowess and we were happy, until the day all my gifts could not save her, I had been tutored by the eldest in the ways of 'man' and he had taught me much, how to speak common, and how to fight in my many forms. However, the hunters had grown ever more envious, they laid a trap, one which involved a tree falling on me. My blessing from the eldest caused the tree to simply break in half when it hit me and I transformed into one of my more ferocious forms. The tree however, continued down landing on top of Larissa, killing her instantly. I smelled out the hunters and hunted down those involved. Catching them, I carried them by their heads to Larissa's crushed, dead body, and changed back to normal, weeping at her death. The hunters, instead of realizing their wrong as I planned them to, took this as their chance to kill me. Their spears broke against my armor, and I paid them no heed. After that, years passed, and I trained an apprentice to do my job. By the time all this happened, I had applied to beacon, at the age of fifteen, I was accepted but only if they were allowed to test me, which I agreed to. I stepped into the forest clearing, sniffing about, I looked around secondarily at this point. Four beowulves sprung from the trees. Using my staff given to me by the eldest. I dispatched all of them. I twirled the staff using both sides to simultaneously kill two of them. The holes in the staff making it sing as it knocked their brains loose from within their heads. The third came on its own and I knocked its legs out from under it with a sweep of my leg, turning around completely and hitting it in the head with my staff knocking it unconscious. The final one jumped and attacked from above. I swung my staff underhand and transformed into an Ursa mid-swing, knocking it into the sky to commune with my ancestors among the stars. I whirled my staff quickly in my gargantuan hands and made the change while dancing with the wind, the only way I had found to stomach the pain of my bones reforming. My staff sung a tail of woe at the death of Larissa as I slowed to a stop.

(HaHa, leaving Epsilon and them for a bit to introduce some OCs this one, is mine, the other three are new, except for Orion, who we meet next chapter.) 


	10. Chapter 10: The Archer and The Berserker

Name:Teresa The moon, illuminating the clearing, cast a bluish glow on everything. It lulled the three lumbering forms into a state of false security. Crouching low, I thumbed the tip of my selected arrow and placed two others like it onto my bow string. The string hummed as I pulled the arrows back and breathed in slowly, holding my next breath, I released the arrows, the instant they could no longer be affected by my movement I jumped out from the tall grass where I was hiding. Leaping forward just behind my arrows I unstrung my bow and detached the two ornate Tomahawks from my thighs. My cloak billowing behind me, I sprinted ahead of my arrows and attacked the backlegs of all the Ursa Majors simultaneously. The looked down at me and struck, quick as lightning, which is what I had been counting on. The three arrows crashed into their heads, killing them. It had taken less than five seconds, a worthy performance indeed. I started strutting away, hips swinging slightly, when my large, fox like ears flicked and I dove to the left. A huge claw smashed the ground where I had been seconds before, jumping onto the claw, I sprinted the length of the arm attached to it and arced my dual Hatchets into its skull. The death-stalker shook of the blow off and attacked again with its claw. Apparently forgetting that I stood on its face. I ran its length, searching for chinks in its armor, while it knocked itself out. Finding one I attacked quickly, finding another near the base of its claw, I severed said claw and then did the same to the other one, waking it up in the process. I restrung my bow and leapt in front of its face. It attacked with its stinger and bellowed at me, I dodged to the right and sent two arrows into its mouth. Pressing a button on my bow, the arrows exploded into shrapnel and killed the gargantuan beast. Once again, I clipped the Hatchets into their places andunstrung my bow. I walked away, this time unhindered.

Professor Goodwitch whistled, standing on the cliff overlooking where most of the tests were happening."Some of these new recruits are beyond reckoning," she thought. Tapping the screen and minimizing the image of the girl retreating toward the school, other images occupied the screen as well now. The one directly to the right of the girl showing a boy dancing as he transformed back to a human, the one beneath that of a teenage boy sprinting from an explosion, the final one showing a boy juggling ten swords by using one and then tossing it into the air before grabbing another and repeating the process, using glyphs to travel quickly around the room. The tablet zoomed in on the last one.  
The one of the boy, he was one of the few students to be tested indoors, while most students required large spaces, his abilities were, surprisingly, less explosive than most. He was older than the other students, and had grown up in a place much like the emerald forest, because of this, he was able to anticipate the movements of grimm, and plan accordingly. Student duels were currently allowed and she wanted to see how he did against one of the more, eccentric, students at the school. She tapped the screen and selected class Z, she then scrolled through the students stopping at one name in particular. She smiled, and sent to Orion, Epsilon's file. Then sent a message to Epsilon saying to report to training room C the next day.  
The next day, Epsilon led Hunter to the post office and they had picked up a package for Nio, delivering it, they decided to train, and found the third room up available.

Name:James Known as:Epsilon "Quit it! I wanna see!" Yelled Hunter.  
"No bro, you don't," I said back as I noticed Tyler get blinded by the light. It finished and Nio stood there, covered in strange armor, I couldn't sense most parts except the outer parts of it because, while it was magnetic, some covalent bond was interfering with my "sight" I let my hand drop and Hunter said,  
"Wow," staring at the armr, Nio noticed and said, "Hey, my eyes are up here!" pointing at his visor. Then he took a fighting stance and Tyler said, "Well, shi-" Just as the doors burst open and Goodwitch and some random person walked in,  
"Oh, excellent, your armor has been approved," Goodwitch called, "It still may not be a good idea to use it in a duel, you know how you get, Nio." Nio stood normally and started rubbing the back of his neck, I could tell he was trying to talk but apparently there was a radio function in the armor that we weren't attuned to, I could only tell he was talking by a slight movement of his helmet up and down. "You may want to check your radio, Nio, we may have tweaked it a bit while inspecting it." Prof. Goodwitch advised.  
We waited a couple seconds, and then we heard Nio say from everywhere at once. "Can you hear me now?" "Loud and clear," I called from the bench.  
"Well, lets get to it then. Clear the field,"  
"Hmmm?" "Well aren't you all here to witness Orions beacon acceptance test?" "What? We are going to get grimm in here?" "No, Orion is to fight Epsilon," Four jaws pounded the ground.  
"You're joking right?" Hunter asked, recovering and stiffling a laugh.  
"In no way, Mr. Jacobs." Prof. Goodwitch responded.  
So I stood and walked to the center of the room, as did my opponent. I grabbed both swords and my shield. Dropping one of the swords as I got into the dueling ring. Orion grabbed four swords and started juggling them. "Please tell me this is a joke," I called to Goodwitch over my shoulder.  
She simply said "begin," It happened quickly, and I found myself pinned to the ground. A dagger at my throat. I smiled,  
"Not that easy," I said as he tried to stab me. I grinned as his dagger bounced off my still overflowing aura. Now laughing, I picked up the entire dueling ring, and threw him off me. He jumped back and caught the four swords he had thrown into the air, and then placed the dagger in its sheath, he ran toward me, tossing his swords ahead of him, I ran toward him aswell, and he caught a sword just as we clashed, all his swords were hand-and-a-half, meaning he could wield them two handed or with one, now he used both hands and drove me back two feet before I could stop his momentum. Bashing forward with my shield, I counter attacked but instead of leaning against it, he used it, jumping straight up to catch a second sword. Slashing down he did a sort of front flip toward me. I tried to catch him by his swords and noticed they were not magnetic. He smashed into my shield and I grunted as it broke against my arm. His swords continued through the remains of my shield, hitting my arm. My aura flared and he was thrown back, then I used my semblance to make arm guards against such attacks and we continued. Running toward him, I called upon my semblance a bit more to lengthen my sword, making it a heavy, two-handed, galatine looking thing (used for lack of better word, look up the word galatine, its a warframe thing) using the sword I had left just outside the dueling ring and we clashed again. My now waited sword slammed him back and I turned, delivering a second, devastating blow, which he only barely blocked. I noticed him moving his swords, but not to attack, and dropped the dueling ring, not allowing him to activate a glyph and crush me. He landed lightly and went through with it anyway. I clenched my hand and my sword fanned out into a shield with a six foot radius which I then braced against the ground, reinforcing it as well with my semblance. The blast launched me regardless but I held onto my shield and back flipped, landing crouched one hand dragging as I slid 10 feet, my shield held above me slightly and I nearly fell off the dueling ring. My aura took an extraodinary hit, reducing it back to normal. I wasn't yet quite sure how I was able to summon Nano, but I was pretty sure I could only do it while low on aura. I converted my shield into a sword and jumped into action, as did he. Activating my semblance ,moving the armor from my arms into a sort of sled, sliding on it, I spun and felt contact, he was thrown across the room but apparently had blocked at the last possible moment. He landed face first and skidded a few inches, and Goodwitch drew in a breath. He stood and started a complex glyph, his nose was bleeding but he paid it no heed, he completed it and I stood, it was clear who had won, but there was no way I could stop such a glyph, it shined brighter than the sun and produced a beam that missed me, but cut through the wall behind me, it was continuous and started moving to cut me in half, but slowly, and I noticed he directed it with his sword. I removed the sled from my leg and refined it, making it reflective, stepping away from the approaching beam as I did so. Using my semblance I moved the mirror in front of the beam to watched in dismay as it melted against it. I looked to Prof. Goodwitch for assistance and she said,  
"This is your test as much as his, find your own way around it." At that I grinned, jumping over the beam, I sprinted toward him, flipping over and sliding under the beam I eventually got to Orion and jumped, slamming my six foot sword into a barrier that launched me across the room, directly onto the beam. Just before I became extra crispy I heard a harsh, crunching song. A barrier glyph appeared below me. Tyler had out a violin and had started playing as I fell. I got up and noticed that the barrier glyph also blocked the beam. Which had moved up slightly to try and kill me. The beam lost energy, and Orion fell to the ground, unconscious.

(HAHA! You thought that was to be the only chapter today? Not so, but a couple notes, I got complaints from multiple people about the confusion caused by not knowing whose eyes you are looking through, so I'm going to include it from now on except if the unanimousness is central to the story, I.E the guy (who I totally didn't completely forget about until now) who brutally murdered Buster and Basher and took their sweet (yellow and black) wheels.) 


	11. Chapter 11

The night before the events of Orion's test.  
Name: Aries Last name: N/A The moon rose steadily, and I jumped from the tree I was in and landed in the center of the clearing. Looking up, I noticed a beowulf flying into the sky. I laughed and watched its course until it smashed into a tree far away. Then looked around, two boarbatusks and a Death-stalker appeared across from me in the clearing, and I grinned, easy pickings, the smile only grew broader as a whole pack of beowulves approached to my right, then the smile wavered slightly as two ursas approached to my left. This would be good, earlier I hadn't been able to fight because a strange, pink, Ursa exploded, I had climbed the tree to stay out of range and now I could fight, so I pulled my chain gun from its holster and smiled again,  
"Hope you boys are hungry,"

Name: N/A Known as: Prof. Goodwitch "Cole, you are two report to a clearing to your North, reinforce the student there and you test will be complete."  
"To my best ability, I will complete this task."I heard from the tablet through the camera we had near him.

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A I laughed as the sprinted towards me, the beowulves died instantly, and the Ursas took a bit longer, but their ability to stand was their doom, only the boarbatusks and the Death-stalker shrugged off the bullets easily. As they got within sixty feet of me I converted Volund into its hammer form. Basically a giant, metal, mallet, and pulled the trigger near my left hand, firing the chain gun and smashing it into the two, now rolling, boarbatusks. Their spin cancelled, they bounced against each other and to the side. My ceramic plate armor took a hit as I was smashed to the side by the death-stalker. I landed a few yards away and rolled into a crouch. Expecting another attack and watched in dismay as an Ursa Major lumbered out of the forest to the south, near the boarbatusks. I resolved to shoot him down later, and turned to face the charging death-stalker. I laid Volund on the ground, gun side up and warmed its 18 barrels, and pressed the button near my right hand, extending Volund's handle another two feet adding to the six feet it already had. It ran above Volund's head and as it did so I pulled the trigger smoothly, cutting it in half with bullets. I turned to face the two boarbatusks but only saw four boarbatusk halves and a teenager who had a staff that twirled with wind chimes. "Who the FU-"  
"Shhhh," He interrupted, "soil not the night air with such salty words. As to who I am, you must look less and see more." He continued as I looked over his shoulder for the Ursa.  
"That still doesn't explain why you stepped in on my test, probably failing me!"  
"There is laughter in your heart and mind, let it out more, and all will be revealed to you." "Grrrr," I growled drawing Volund and converting it into its chain gun form, advancing toward him menacingly. He looked into my eyes through the visor in my helm and moved faster than thought, with two strikes, he knocked away my helmet and touched my head lightly. My knees wobbled at the second touch, and I nearly fell to the ground. "HEY!" I exclaimed.  
"Your mind is resistant, and your muscles strong, you would make a good partner." "That's a good thing, because that is now exactly what he is to you." Prof. Goodwitch said as she entered the clearing. "You now must head to the cliff but first retrieve a relic from the forest temple to the south." "Already done," Said Cole, twirling his staff and revealing an idol of Hera (Greek goddess, look her up) apparently from nowhere. "Hmmm," hummed Goodwitch, obviously miffed at the boys impossible wisdom and foresight.  
"Then head directly to the cliff, and quickly, strange, undocumented grimm roam the forest at night." She said and disappeared into the trees.  
We left in the dirdction of the cliff, encountering two boarbatusks which ran when they caught sight of Cole.  
"My reputation preceeds me," He said smuggly.  
"Watch that branch," I said pointing to one eight feet up, "Your head might hit it if it grows anymore." He pondered this for a moment and responded. "You are correct, humility is an important trait in any person." After that, we walked in silence for a bit before reaching the cliff. The moon illuminated a path etched into the cliff face.  
Sighing, Cole said, "That path is treacherous, and these legs grow weary," "I don't mind taking a break if you're tired," I offered.  
"That is not, what I meant," He responded, his voice like quicksilver, "A beautiful full moon tonight," He continued, "How poetic." He said, changing into a beowulf and climbing directly up the cliff face. Cracks appeared at my feet from the force of my jaw dropping. He got to the top and stood, gripping his staff with his paws, I heard a siren song, emitting from the top of the cliff as he twirled his staff changing back to a human. I recocered and sprinted up the path, nearly losing my footing thrice, I got to the top and stared at him. "You-you were the Ursa I saw," I exclaimed, eyes wide through the helmet I had retreived before we left. He merely nodded.  
"B-but, how?"  
"I would imagine it is not so strange especially to one as yourself who wields a weapon that does the same. My change is as natural to me as your weapons change is to it."  
"It can't be! My weapon was designed by me to do it! You must have been altered somehow!" "This is true, yet are not our past and futures entertwined? Wouldn't our lives progress the same if I was loved by my peers, if I hadn't been left behind and hated?" "You're talking about fate, aren't you?"  
"Yes,"  
"Pfft, I don't believe in fate," "You should," He responded, infuriatingly, "It believes in you." Then he walked toward the school, and I followed, grumbling under my breath.

(Sorry guys, I'm gonna take a good long look at Nio's weapon, Saphire Cutter, before trying to render it in my mind and then put it in a chapter, its an awesome weapon and I want to truly do it justice, Volund will eventually get refined so I apologize if its description is currently crude.) 


	12. Chapter 12:The Day-off

The day of Orion's second test, Tuesday.  
Name: James Known As: Epsilon "So, who is this guy?" I asked, pointing at the unconscious Orion.  
"He was meant to be in your batch of groups but we wanted to give him more time in therapy, he's actually doing far better than before." "Better? He would have killed me just now if Tyler hadn't stepped in."  
"Correct, that will reflect on your grade, by the way, your team mates won't always be there to save you."  
"That's ridiculous, I won't always be under attack from a power crazy maniac."  
"True, but any weakness can be a liability, and ignorance, is a weakness." "Are you suggesting I should have known that glyph also created a forcefield?"  
"I am one of your teachers and you will respect me as such, Epsilon, and yes, you should have known everything about that glyph, it was in your course work last week."  
I was about to retort that I had been in the hospital most of last week but what she said before and the look she gave me were warning enough, this conversation was over. "If you wouldn't mind," She continued, "I was hoping you would take Mr. Tiberius to the hospital you were about to mention before."  
I clenched my hand and generated a stretcher from the iron filaments in the ground and lifted him, gesturing at the slashes in the walls,  
"I expect you expect me to fix that too?"  
"No," She responded, my sarcasm flying right over her head, "Maintenance will take care of it." Grumbling, I left the room, Orion floating in mid-air behind me.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio Prof. Goodwitch and Hunter left the room and I said, "Soooo, what do you wanna do now?" "No use in dueling," Tyler responded, "I only wanted to in order to show off for Hunter." "Alright, you hungry?"  
"Sure, I could eat."  
We went to the airships and I powered down my armor on the way there, the one we got on had strange claw marks near the entrance.  
"You think those are from?" I started.  
"Let's never speak of it," He interrupted me. "Alright," I said, shrugging. We got into town and stopped at an eatery modeled after one of the north eastern kingdoms(think Italian, but since the same continents don't exist I can't exactly say that). He stopped outside the entrance and said, "Wait up, lets pick up some chicks while we're here, its not like there's anyone you like in our groups." He said, glaring pointedly at me.  
"Y-yea, of course," I responded sheepishly, remembering what happened Sunday morning. He sat on a folding chair just outside the restaurant and pulled out a violin scroll. I covered my ears, but he shook his head and said, winking,  
"Don't worry, love dust is illegal and too temporary, the violin itself is enough to make them interested, and my charms and good looks keep them that way." I turned and leaned my head on the wall, 'We're doomed' I thought. Then, he started playing and stopped almost immediately, people had immediately started tossing coins into his bag, hitting the rest of his instruments. He tied the bag shut, scowling, and produced a hat if anyone was insistent on giving him money to keep playing. He started again, a beautiful North eastern romance melody to go along with the theme of the eatery, he somehow managed to make the violin sound like an accordion at parts that required it and it wasn't long before two girls stayed to listen. He finished the song with a downscaling, triple octave arpeggio playing on two strings at once and I raised my eyebrows. He really seemed to love playing, he even only noticed the girls after he finished his song.  
"Well hello there, my pretties," He said, and I facepalmed,'yep, doomed again,' I thought as the girls giggled. 'Wait, giggled? His ridiculousness might actually get us through this, they'll think he's only acting like he's bad at talking to girls.'  
"Want to join us? Me and my wall loving friend here are only in town for a while today and lunch is on us."  
"Sure," One of the girls said, offering her hand. He took it and, kissing it, led her inside, nudging me, and winked while I facepalmed again. Taking the hand of the other girl I followed them inside. He asked for a table for four and we were seated quickly. We ate and I ordered the grilled chicken parmesan (assuming chickens exist, if not chicken then instead their remnant equivalent :P) after we ate we went to see a film about a group of spacemen that get into all sorts of highjinx, it also happened to be quite a good webseries but this movie showed all of the first season,it having been edited out of a format of five minutes each meant that it was quite well sized for a movie. By the time we did all that it was nearly dark out and the girls gave us their scroll IPs and told us to message them next time we were in town. We said goodbye and on the way back to Beacon not much was said, but as we were gettingoff the airship, I heard Tyler say,  
"Perfect day," shaking his head slightly.

(Taking a bit of a break from all the fighting, pm me if this none action packed stuff is GREAT! Neh, or terrible. Jumping right back into character development next chapter though, so don't be surprised by team COAT (Coatl, as in Quetzacoatl) next chapter. I've gotta work on my time synchronization, so please tell me if events don't line up too well and I'll do my best to either fix it, or explain it.) - 


	13. Chapter 13

1 Month before the events of the entire story, including that of RWBY.  
A single light illuminated the table which I was laying my feet on, leaning back in an old, but sturdy, chair. Someone approached and I rested one of my impossible to see hands on one of my weapons on an impossible to see table.  
"You've been contracted with a mark," said a voice from the shadows.  
"Really? Who puts themself above me to tell me what to do?"  
"Common sense, anyone who wouldn't take this contract is an idiot. All you gotta do is find, and kill, a yellow haired girl." "I don't kill Beacon students," "She isn't one. Not yet," "I'll see what I can do, how's the pay?" "Good enough to put you out of necessity for a job for a few years, even with your spending habits."  
"Then I'll get straight to it, but anyone worth that much money, will probably be a handful."  
"You got it, watch out for the shotguns."  
"Whatever that means, now get out of here, I need a few moments to prepare." I said, grabbing my weapons from the table nearby. The motorcycle last time had been an unforeseen boon, meaning that I got to keep it, I jumped on it noticing a paper left behind by the voice. It showed a Scroll IP and a scrollsite, which displayed her picture. She was pretty, and looks meant everything to me, an honest conversation in a world such as this was hard to come by, so I settled to care only about the minimum when dealing with others. I revved the engine, and the tire squealed as I drove off.

Current- Day after Orions duel with Epsilon. (This guy's life is pretty action packed, eh?)  
Name: Cole Last Name: None "You four have shown exemplary courage and strength, and in collecting the Hera model on the most perilous of nights, will be known as Coatl, Team COAT." Ozpin rattled on. Our name should matter not, who we are should be proven, yet I swelled with pride as we walked off of the raised stage/platform type thing. We took seats next to each other and I tried not to be affected by the negativity emenating from the one next to me. Orion, he was called, and had expected he to have exceledfar beyond the rest of us, his jealousy obvious, I looked at him intently until the ceremony completed, he would attempt to undermine me, and then attempt to take command from me. We exited from the auditorium we were in and he went first, stopping us just outside the door.  
"I don't care what Ozpin said, I'm not going to follow some, tribal shaman, into battle,you three, do as I say, got it?"  
"I do not," I responded, taking his rhetorical question as a chance to speak, "what makes you believe you have wisdom beyond that of Professor Ozpin?"  
"I do not 'believe' I know more than that old fool, I know I do, so you can follow me to victory or, you can do as he says and take orders from some, starwatcher."  
"The adjective 'old' and the noun 'fool' should not fit in a sentence together unless you are describing the difference between a fool, and those that are old."  
"You are missing the point, spirit communer, I am leader. I don't care how smart you believe old people are." "I do not 'believe' old people have, and love to share, wisdom, I know it and the fact that you appear to believe starwatcher and spirit communer are insults shows your insistently obvious ignorance. Those who watch the stars see the past and understand it, those who are permitted to commune with spirits should be honored above all."  
A crowd had gathered around us. Nearly half laughed at my audacity, agreeing with Orion, the others scowled at how Orion dared treat his team leader.  
"Pfft, I believe this all boils down to how you want to hang on to your, exalted position in your crummy,rundown, group of hooligans you called a tri-"  
He was not able to finish that sentence, his throat nearly crushed against a wall by my staff. "You may attempt to insult me," I said quietly, almost a whisper "you may insult those I respect under threat of peril, but you may NOT insult my family, nod if you understand." Nearly yelling when I said 'not'.  
He did nothing and I pushed him up the wall, applying more pressure to his neck.  
"do, you, understand?" I almost yelled at him, but resolved for saying it through clenched teeth. He nodded and I dropped him to the ground.  
"I, am team leader, you, follow, me." I said with finality.  
"Now stand. It is unbecoming to slump down like so."  
He did nothing, and a nearby peer said, "I think you killed him."  
I felt his neck and said, "No, his misunderstood heart still beats, he will come when he is ready to be spoken to as an equal." Turning, I walked in the direction of the dorm.

Aries caught up to me,  
"Dude, that was intense," he said, almost in awe.  
"It was necessary, if he hadn't done it then, he would have done it later, and with time, comes thought, not of whether doing it was a good idea, but what was the best way to do it."  
"Still though, you could've killed him,"  
"I could not have, he could have killed himself through me."  
"So you're just gonna settle to resort to violence every time we step out of line?" He aske and I stopped walking.  
"His disrespect reached toward those I loved, those I cared and fought for, anger clouded my judgement, and I used a mistake I had already made to place myself where Professor Ozpin already attempted to place me, I am sorry that I disturbed you."  
"Disturbed? What do you meam by that." Starting walking again, I said,  
"This conversation makes it obvious that what you saw was disturbing, that you feared I would do the same to you or her, it is not so, and if I unknowingly caused you distress, I apologize for that."  
"Hmmm, you good on learning?" He asked.  
"Always," I responded.  
"Then know that you handled that wrong, violence is almost never the answer." "I agree, thank you."  
We continued in silence, until he asked.  
"So how 'bout the look on that guys face?" Clutching his throat and bugging out his eyes as he walked.  
"That does not grant me jubilance, where is the girl?"  
"She stayed to help out Orion. Hey, weren't you the one who said I should let out my laughter more?"  
"Not about thrisgh," the last bit was messed up because I had turned and transformed into a strange, almost monkey-like, form of grimm (Weiss encountered many of them just before she set the forest on fire, since I haven't seen a name posted or said, I'll just call it as I see it) and sprinted back to the auditorium. Around the corner, I stopped and changed back, I saw them still there and said, "Before-you-two-develop-a-mutual-hate-towards-me,-I want-to-apologize, I-let-emotions-guide-my-decisions-and I-won't-let-it-happen-again."  
Teresa looked up, eyebrows raised, and said, "That's not what's happening, I'm telling Orion how stupid that was." Then Aries skidded around the corner behind me.  
"Dude, quit doing that, it's freaky."  
"Alright, first I dont think that's necessary," I said to Teresa,"Second, I'm not a 'dude'," I said, turning to Aries, "Third, I will try to keep unwarranted transformations to a minimum." Finishing calmly.  
"Blurgh," Orion said from the floor.  
"Fourth," I added," I still feel bad about that, let me see what I can do to relieve myself of said grief, stand back please."  
"You aren't going to kill him are you?" Teresa asked, standing up and moving back a step.  
"Probably," I said, twirling my staff for a moment, I touched the left side of his neck with the tip of my staff, and it glowed violet as I channeled my blessing through it, something the eldest had taught me to do. I did the same to the right side of his neck and he said, "Thanks, but that wasn't really needed."  
"It was to me." I answered simply, and held out my hand, he took it and stood.  
"Team mates?" I asked.  
"Team mates," he said, slightly grugdingly.  
"Let's get something to eat," Aries cut in, "I'm half-starved." He turned and headed in the direction of the mess hall. Shrugging at them, I followed saying,  
"His stomach has spoken, and given an order none of us can ignore."

(I am going to try an EXTREME personality arc with one of these characters, but soooo slowly you guys won't notice it until you read chapters 13 and like 24 one after the other so pm me if you see who it is and I'll give you a cookie, other wise, please continue reading and giving me feedback, if you haven't been giving me feedback START no idea is a bad idea and I would LOVE seeing how you guys react to a side story or two after the main story of this fanfic)  
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	14. Chapter 14: The shaman's Answers

Name: Julia Last Name: Symphonia I woke up in terror, I felt my skin crawling across my body, I had just had the strangest nightmare, one where I was sprinting through the emerald forest, being chased by my brother screaming at me, crying because he said I murdered and ate his sister. My eyes were closed, but I opened them suddenly when I felt a blanket being draped over me. I nearly sat up, but someone held me down by my forehead, using only his thumb.  
"Shhhh," he said as I nearly screamed. I started to remove the blanket, but he whispered.  
"I closed my eyes earlier to preserve your dignity, yet I do not wish to have a conversation with out my sight, you do not possess garments at this point in time, so be wary." "Who are you?" I asked, also whispering.  
"I am, Cole. You have been through an ordeal this night, one I have seen before, one you can harness, or remove from your life."  
"In who have you seem it before?" I asked hopefully, "Who is like me?" "Me," he said simply and changed into a beowulf, quietly, he faded back to human, silently, but with great pain.  
"How do you control it?" I asked.  
"I was given a blessing from the eldest in my nomadic tribe, one you seem to already possess," "Then why can't I control it as you can?" I pondered.  
"I have two theories for that," He answered. "The first is that I had two uncontrolled experiences before I began learning to control it, if this theory proves true, you will need a tutor to teach you how to master your transformations. The second also presents a third theory, the second theory is that, because you received your blessing before the curse, you will need to turn the curse itself using a blessing, by proving to yourself that, through it, you can do good. The third and final theory, is simply that you require more experience with it before you can learn to use it."  
"How much experience would I need with it if the third theory is right?"  
"I have had both blessings for 26 harvests, or about 6 and a half years and it still causes me pain to change form,"  
My eyes widened, "THAT long? And you still haven't mastered it?" "Correct, if you want help, ask for leave and go find my tribe, it will be hard, it will be dangerous, but if you make it to them, you will be taught if you provide them my name." "I'll think about it." I answered and he disappeared into the darkness.

(Short chapter, but some much needed answers for Julia, and I side quest toward her development as a character, I've figured out how to describe saphire cutter, and have wasted enough time to catch back up to the story line of RWBY so we'll be rejoining Epsilon and them for a bit next chapter and onward!)  
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	15. Chapter 15

The next morning, last chapter having happened at night.  
"I have called you four in here today to discuss recent Dust theiveries, just two months ago an entire armored delivery truck was stolen, this has been taken care of, however, because the culprit had the nerve to attack Ms. Xiao long, he did not survive, to our knowledge, yet the thefts have continued, one of the most recent having been stopped by Ruby Rose with help from Professor Goodwitch. The suspects have bewn narrowed, the circumstances analyzed, and the only thing we need now, is to catch this criminal. That, is where you four come into the equation, he enjoys escaping in large helicopters, which you, Epsilon can put to an end, and has a strong huntress turned evil on his side, who can be dealt with by Tyler and Nio, overseen and helped by Hunter, you, can Not, fail."  
"Understood," I said, and turned to leave. Tapping along to find my way, I still hadn't recovered from summoning Nano yesterday.  
"Epsilon, first, you know you aren't leader anymore, Hunter has to understand, secondly, why are you using your cane? It is early and you shouldn't've had time to exhaust your semblance already, unless you were doing strange, undocumented things, yesterday." I remembered he had cameras in the emerald forest and probably saw me summon Nano the first time.  
"You may want to get a few meals in you before you go anyway, leave tomorrow, you will be excused from your extra classes but given extra readings until you return." "Understood," Hunter and I said simultaneously, glancing at each other, 'yep,' I thought, 'definitely something to get used to,'  
We went straight to the mess hall and ate. I was almost immediately able to 'see' again and said hi to some of the other teams. I 'glared'(you know what I mean, brows furrowed staring in hos direction sightlessly) at Cardin, who was pulling on the ears of some random bunny eared faunas.  
"You like her?" A girl asked from across the table.  
"Hello Milly," I responded, not bothering to turn my head, "and no, I simply have a dislike of anyone subjugating others to punishment only because of an abnormality they have."  
"You calling my species an 'abnormality'?" She asked dangerously, and my team mates tensed, not willing to face the wrath of an angry girl.  
"In no way," I said cooly, turning in my seat to face her direction, "I find our abnormalities are the things that define us best, the things that tell, not show, who we are," indicating my blindfold with my hand and poking her fox ears with a spoon using my semblance. She slappes the spoon away and relaxed, "That's a good thing," she said, "I would think you were cute for saying it if you were a year older." "And how old, exactly, do you think he is?" Hunter cut in, sliding to her side. She slid the same direction, away from Hunter and said,  
"Sixteen, almost seventeen. Thats how old most students are when they begin at Beacon." "Then its a good thing that I'm in my second year at Beacon, slid her my scroll, which I assumed said what year I was in. She looked at it for a moment, tapped it a couple times and raised her eyebrows. "So you are right, you are in your second year here, so why were you in the guest rooms and why didn't you know where everything was?" "I was in a guest room for reassignment and I didn't know where everything was because I'm blind, if that comes as a shock, you dont know very many blind people."  
"Good point, so since you aren't forbbidden by age laws in the near future, would you like to go out for dinner sometime?" Four jaws dropped, I recovered first and said.  
"Buh, um, is that how getting asked out works?"  
"Yes," she responded, unfazed by our stupification.  
"Then sure, I guess."  
"Okay, meet me later, just message me when and where with your scroll." She said, tapping a few more times, adding herself to my contacts and slid it back across the table to me.  
"You know this is useless to me!?" I called holding up the tablet and pointing at it as she walked away.  
"Ask one of your friends for help," she said back, almost laughing.  
I looked at my team mates, noting that they were all grinning evilly. They jumped at me trying to grab the see through tablet. " ." I said, holding it in the air behind me, above our heads.  
"Well what's this we've got here?" Cardin said behind me, snatching the tablet from mid-air while I facepalmed hard enough to give me a minor concussion. I stood and picked up the table with my semblance.  
"Ah,ah,ah." Cardin said, tapping my scroll twice, I've got my finger over the delete button, and we wouldn't want to have to explain to Milly why her scroll IP has been banned from your contacts would we?"  
I looked at my team mates,  
"Can he do that?" I asked hopefully. All three of them nodded. Sighing, I dropped the table.  
"What do I have to do to get it back?" I asked through clenched teeth.  
"You can start by apologizing for threatening to kill me." I noticed he wasn't wearing his armor for this encounter.  
"I, am, sorry," I spat.  
"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you." He said, his finger inching toward my scroll.  
"I, apologize, for, threatening, to, kill, you." I managed.  
"Good enough," He said, "for now." Tucking my scroll into his pocket.  
"Wow," Hunter said, "That's a bitter sweet moment if I ever saw one." He finished while I banged my head on the table a couple times.

(So this is gonna suck, eh? We'll see how it goes, but I smell a way to tie it back along with RWBY, see how it turns out, and another cookie for anyone who figures out what it is befroe I write it.)  
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	16. Chapter 16:The Alternative

The same day, after classes.  
I was talking to Tyler, who was relieved that his sister was alive and completely, strangely, fine when I heard behind me.  
"Well if its not my favorite blind, blackmailed, friend. Guess what?" Cardin asked.  
"What?" I indulged.  
"I found a way for you to make up to me my hurt feelings. You see, there's this girl, I want her to love me, but she's not in it for the goods, she wants the gooshy, emotional stuff, you up for it?"  
"Nope," I responded,  
"Then, there happens to be an alternative. Lucky you."  
We got all the way to the mess hall, which was now being used for dinner, before he explained what he wanted me to do. Tyler disappeared soon after he explained, not wanting to be seen around while this happened.  
"So, you, are going to make a blind man tap dance, while singing, and constantly tripping over his own feet."  
"You're right!" He said, "part of that IS wrong, you, aren't, a man," punctuating each word by flicking my nose.  
"Besides," He continued."I'm not making you do this, you can still choose the other one,"  
"Which entails?" "All you gotta do is acquire some love dust," "Which is illegal,"  
"Slip it into her perfume,"  
"Also illegal,"  
"Then get her to love me at least a little bit."  
"Probably illegal,"  
"So?" "I'll take the tap dancing."  
"Then get to it."  
"OOOOOOOOHHH! CAAAARDIN IIIISSS THE MOST HEROIC! AND AMAZING! AND GENERALLY A GOOD GUY!"  
And so I went, literally singing the praises of the person I hated most at that moment. I finished and walked out the door, encountering Milly on the way out.  
"Do I wanna ask?" She said.  
"Nope," I responded, snatching my scroll from Cardin (who was laughing histerically) without stopping.  
"Do I wanna ask?" Tyler said, appearing out of no where.  
"Still no. Butl I'm glad that's over," I added, "I wouldn't've been able to stand a couple days of such a threat over my head. You seen Hunter anywhere?" "No, why?"  
"I don't know. Ever since I figured out he was my brother I've been feeling kind of protective of him."  
"What? Do I need to be discovered as a long lost cousin to be 'under your protection'?" He asked, nudging me with his elbow.  
"No, but that does remind me, what's your big, bad, secret?"  
"I don't know what you mean."  
"What's your big, dark, ominous, past?"  
"Still no clue what you're talking about,"  
"I've got my reasons for being blind, Hunter has his training to end me, Nio has a mysterious past about why he's so short and where he got his armor, what's your deal?"  
"Nio isn't short,"  
"You, are dodging the question,"  
"Sorry man, I've got nothing," "Hmmmmm, I'm watching you Symphonia. And, since I cant sense Hunter in a good 50 meter (HaHa! Metric system!) radius, you think you could give me a hand?" "With what?"  
"The reason I cared about getting my scroll back, I can't use it, but Milly told me to message her when possible,"  
"Alright, lemme see it then." Taking it, he tapped it a couple times and said,  
"Hey, why didn't you just pound Cardin into the floor and take your scroll back?"  
"He said he would delete Milly's contact and ban her if I tried."  
"That's funny, her contact is password protected, he couldn't've done that if he tried."  
"What?! Who put it password protected?!"  
"It says 'protected by creator' this being your scroll, it would use your aura ID to unlock it in order to delete contacts." "Well, shit. Whatever," I said as Goodwitch walked around the corner and hit me in the back of the head with her crop/stick-thing.  
"Language Epsilon," she said absent mindedly, tapping away on that tablet she always carried around. Tyler stiffled a laugh and said,  
"Ok, so what do you want me to tell her?" "Tell her about the mission and tell her I'll message her when we get back."  
"K, done, you know your scroll has voice command, right?"  
"Alright, so I just tell it what to do?"  
"Yep. listen, I'lll see you in a bit, I wanna check on my sister."  
"Ok, see ya,"  
Tyler turned down an alternate hallway and I continued on my course toward the bathrooms, somebody, walking ths opposite direction said,  
"Hello blind seer."  
"Shaman." I acknowledged without stopping.  
I got to the bathrooms and brushed my teeth, then left and went to the room. Climbing the ladder to my bed, I went to sleep.

The next morning.  
"WAKEY!WAKEY! Mission day!" A voice I'd never heard before called.  
"WHO! THE! FUCK?!" Hunter yelled, having slammed his head on the roof when he woke up.  
"Blind seer, it is time to move."  
"Blurgh," I responded.  
"Check out this flashbang I found in my pocket," Orion called.  
At this, two of us rolled out of bed, I landed crouched, grabbed the grenade out of Orions hand, and tossed it into the hallway. Shutting the door as it went off.  
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Hunter yelled, unable to hear.  
"Yes," I heard Orion say as the ringing stopped.  
"Now that, is a way to wake up." Tyler said as he bounced out of his bed and landed on the ground. "I'm guessing you are one of those, morning people."  
I grumbled, my initial burst of adrenaline fading.  
"Yep," Tyler said, as Hunter belly flopped onto the floor behind him.

(I don't feel like writing in the interaction but team COAT is, in fact, going along with the mission to assist. Don't be surprised by their appearance later!)  
- 


	17. Chapter 17

Two days later, at night, in the streets of the city closest to where Roman torchwick was last seen.  
Name: James Known as: Epsilon "This is useless, no one is getting robbed right now, plus, its not like any dust stores are open this late to get robbed." A random officer called from behind me.  
"Be silent," I whispered.  
"You don't tell me what to do." He said back.  
"I do when I've got your gun," I said back, using my semblance to lift his gun into the air above his head. We had been paired each with an officer, against Ozpin's wishes, because the sheriff wanted to bother Ozpin by showing him that he was in charge. "Hey! You're not allowed to do that!" The officer cried, making more noise. I dropped the gun on his head.  
"Shut, up," I said.  
"No! You don't get to order me around! I'm the senior officer here!" "If you won't shut up, at least duck so I don't have to clean the remains of your brain off my shirt." He did nothing, and I shifted the metal framework of the building we were on. Causing him to fall, as a bullet whizzed past where his head was. Catching it,(which probably would've been simpler in the first place) on my shield, I examined it. "Fifty caliber," I spat, "This guy could be halfway across the city." The officer stood and reported a shot fired on his radio, providing our location and the direction the bullet came from. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a foot long rod of high density metal. I carried said backpack whenever I couldn't simply rip metal from the ground, which made sense in a city. I spread it into a 10x10 foot (HaHa! NOT metric system!) sheet and constructed a spring from part of it that I cut off, seperating another sheet from the first one, I constructed a base and a few supports.  
"What, the, hell, are you doing?" The officer asked as he started climbing down the fire escape.  
"Getting the guy," I responded as I created a launch pad similar to those that the cliff in front of the emerald forest had. I crouched in position and the officer said.  
"Wow, you kids are crazy."  
"Pretty much," I said, and released the spring, launching myself in the direction the bullet came from before I remembered I didn't have a landing strategy. I saw a flash of light ahead and heard a bang, deflecting the bullet with my sword, I put my shield in front of me, slowing me a bit. Then, elongating it into an eight by four foot tower shield, I landed on top of the building infront of the sniper, using my shield as a sled, turning and rolling into a crouch, just as he fired another shot I got my shield infront of me, the bullet glanced off my shield and I dropped my sword, reached behind me, turned full circle, and hurled one of the high density rods his direction in one fluid movement. Splitting and forming it into a cage as it flew with my semblance. I wasn't, however, prepared for the bullet he fired instead of running. I took the bullet to the shoulder as it, surprisingly, went straight through my shoulder, unhindered by my aura. I grunted, and the cage landed on him, I then hooked the bars of the cage through the building, securing the sniper in place. Dissassembling his rifle, I asked, holding every piece of the gun in mid-air.  
"How did you get the bullet to ignore my aura?"  
"Like I answer to you," he said.  
"You do when I've got your gun," I said reassembling it and aiming it at his head.  
"Pffft, like you're gonna pull the trigger,"  
Rotating the gun, I shot him in the leg. He cried out in pain as I removed the bullet and healed the wound, reloading the bullet into the gun, I said.  
"You can tell me, or you can get pretty repetitively shot until the police get here."  
"We made the bullets with a special type of metal! One that we found in the teeth of a strange pink ursa!"  
Dissassembling the gun, I said,  
"Thank you for your compliance." And closed up all except one of the holes in the cage. Then, I pulled out my scroll and turned it on saying,  
"Send message to team mates: found a guy with a gun and got shot, in pain, ouch, please come to my location." After that, I said,"activate GPS location broadcasting." Then, I sat on the cage to wait.

Later, at the police station.

"You saved the life of one of my men, despite any disrespect he may have shown you, is there anyway I can repay you?"  
"Honestly, the only thing I really need, is to be near my team, and then there're no problems,"  
"Alright," he said to me, and then, to the radio on his shoulder, he said "effective immediately, all pairs report to HQ. We are now pairing together only teams and officers."

(Problem with their allies resolved, they can now get to the actual finding of this Torchwick guy. Epsilon van take a hit though can't he? Lets see how he does when he realizes he's basically useless to help in a chapter or two)  
- 


	18. Chapter 18:The Machine

That night- Circa 3:00 AM (Next morning technically)  
Name: N/A Known as:Nio "I don't think anyone is getting robbed at this point, its kinda late." Tyler yawned.  
"We have to remain vigilant regardless," Hunter said, yawning aswell, "Epsilon, you sense anything?" He asked.  
"Not a mouse through the house," said Epsilon, who was having no trouble keeping his 'eyes' open.  
"Alright," Tyler said, "wake me up if anything happens."  
He closed his eyes for a moment before Epsilon sat up and said,  
"Imminent robbery, three blocks north." "Excellent," Hunter said, jumping up, "lets try and leave something to interrogate' eh?" He continued, looking at Epsilon.  
"Making no promises," he responded, leap-of-faithing off the building we were on.  
Making it to the place Epsilon described. We stopped, around the corner, and checking, facepalmed.  
"It's just a normal mugging," Tyler said, stepping into the open.  
"Awww, man." Hunter said, doing the same.  
"Pfft, its better that we do rather than don't help," Epsilon said throwing his hands up.  
"Hey! Who are you kids?!" The mugger called, holding a knife to his victims throat.  
"OH CRAP! HE'S GOT A HOSTAGE!" Hunter said with mock fear, "Epsilon, disarm the man, if you would." "Already did," He said back, holding a knife.  
The mugger looked at his hand, then at the knife Epsilon had and said,  
"HEY! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" "Stop yelling, you'll wake the whole block." Hunter said calmly.  
"I'll kill you kids!" He called.  
"With what?" Epsilon said, "your extra knives?" He continued, gesturing at ten knives floating in mid-air behind him. The mugger's eyes widened, and he checked his pockets, realizing with fear that Epsilon had magnetically pick pocketed him from the building we started at. He turned and ran, leaving us behind.  
The victim brushed herself off and said,  
"Oh how can I ever repay you?" "Weeeelllllllll," Hunter started.  
"Not you, the other one, with the blindfold,"  
"Weeeelllllllll," Epsilon said, then turned away and said,  
"Already done, goodbye!" And sprinted off in the other direction. We followed him, down the alley, left, forward, right, and then straight up the side of a building. Noticing his shoes were incased in metal, I started running around the building until I saw a fire escape, jumping up, I grabbed on and started climbing, Tyler and Hunter following suit. When we got to the top I noticed two things, the first being that Epsilon was enveloped by the black outline he had whenever he used his semblance (including to see)the second was that he was sliding across the building, his backpack had torn open and let loose the ridiculously heavy rods he kept with him when he couldn't use his semblance to get metal from the ground, such as within a city where people don't take too kindly to people ripping holes in the floor. Helping up Epsilon, I started looking around for what tossed him but he saved me the trouble by pointing toward the side of the building he flew from, at a huge helicopter type thing, two blades, one one each side, with the side facing us opened and a woman in high heels, facing us, yellow eyes blazing out of the shadows.  
"Yep, that's them alright," Hunter said.  
"I can keep them from getting away, but the woman inside is keeping me from disabling the helicopter,"  
"That's where we come in," Hunter said.  
"Equip SC-2." I said to my armor.

Name:James Known as: Epsilon I opened my eyes as I summoned Nano. "Hello." He said.  
"That's the first time you've spoken and 'hello' is all you have to say?"  
"Yep, check that out," He said pointing at Nio's armor.  
"Yea, we've seen it before, well, I haven't but, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" I yelled as a bolt of fire struck out of the helicopter towards where Nio was standing. I thought he had been fried on the spot ,but he had jumped out of the way, quick as lightning, a bright light flashed as he rolled left and Nio stood there, something like a submachine gun in his hands, another bolt of fire flew from the helicopter and he jumped into action, combat rolling to the right, shooting simultaneously, at first towards the engines in order to see if that would be simpler, but the bullets vaporized as they approached them, and he switched targets, aiming at the woman. She would have been dead then and there, Nio's speed unmatched, but her aura blocked the first couple bullets, and she got up a boundary glyph in front of her. I snapped out of the stupor as Nio transformed his gun, the stock splitting in half and consuming the grip, and then enclosed around his arm snuggly, the main body of the gun ate the barrel and the receiver split in two, which then generated a completely energy based shortsword. He sprinted toward the helicopter and I summoned my semblance, using it to create a bridge toward the helicopter.  
"A little help?" Hunter called as his sword split in two and connected to his shield, which sprouted blades around the edges.  
"I've only got one shot, unless you retrieve it for me."  
"Got it," I responded. Nio had gotten onto the helicopter and was fighting with the woman, who had produced two daggers seemingly from no where. Looking at the helicopter, a red haze around the engines disappeared.  
"I'm aiming for the engines, get ready to catch Nio," Hunter called over the roar of the wind. Which increased as Tyler drew the ship closer to the building with a strange sort of siren song. I noticed that the pilot, clad in a white jacket and hat, was looking at us strangely.  
I looked at Nano, and he nodded, using the bridge I made earlier, I speared the ship, knocking the woman out of it while Hunter cut the engine in half with his saw blade launcher, noticing that the saw blade wasn't magnetic, I bent the metal that was stuck in the ship to catch the blade, which had lost a ton of momentum slicing all the way through the helicopter. Nio, falling along with everything else, brought his sword up in time in order to not be diced by the still spinning rotors. Noticing that the helicopter would pulverize the building we were on, I used some of the scattered rods I'd had in my pack to create supports, elevating the helicopter slightly above the building. The helicolter stopped immediately, and the building groaned under the extra weight. Concentrating, I lifted the helicopter and extended the supports to the ground, using the rest of the remaining rods. Dropping the helicopter, I fell to the ground, retaining consciousness just long enough to see Nio land in a kneel, just before breaking through the roof into the floor below, breaking through that one and falling further, I chuckled and laid my head on the ground falling asleep.

I woke up that morning, having slept for about four hours, guess where, still on top of the building, Tyler stood nearby, sustaining a boundary glyph above me. I stood and looked around, the hole was still there, and so was Nano, fighting the pyromaniac woman, a ladder extended from the helicopter, making it all the way to the ground. I stood, and Tyler said,  
"Good morning, have a nice nap?"  
"I wouldn't call that a nap, more like passing out as a result of picking up a helicopter and making a building to hold it."  
"Good point,"  
"What's the situation?" I asked.  
"Well Nano over there is keeping the hot lady busy and Hunter went after the Torchwick guy who climbed out of the helicopter."  
"Where did Nano get a sword?" I questioned pointing at the hand and a half sword he was wielding.  
"I don't know, he had it when he started fighting her."  
"And they're still fighting?" "Yep, its pretty interesting to watch, Nano shrugs off any attack she lands on him and she doesn't let him hit her,"  
"What do you mean, shrugs it off?"  
"Watch, for a few seconds and you'll see."  
And so we watched. Nano sweeped with his foot and she jumped, he continued the spin and struck at her with the sword, which she ducked under, completing a glyph and producing a blast that should have thrown him off the building as a charred corpse, he flew across the building for a moment before dematerializing and rematerializing directly in front of her, continuing the fight.  
"Okay," I said, "So where's Nio?" "I wondered that too until I pondered why they were leaving the location with a helicopter. Turns out, these guys were charging grimm with dust in order to smuggle said dust out of the kingdom, Nio has been taking care of that while I protected you from any stray blasts the smoking babe might create."  
"You are enjoying these puns aren't you?"  
"Undoubtably,"  
"Is that a word?" "Undoubtably,"  
Sighing, I tried to make a sword only to realize that, while Nano was around, I couldn't use my semblance to do much of anything, hence why he healed my eyes whenever he appeared.  
"Okay, good to know. You have a sword in any of those scroll things you have?"  
"I've got twin axes but no swords,"  
"I'm no good with axes, so you go help Nano, I'll make myself scarce."  
"I'm not to keen on getting blasted by one of those things Nano can laugh at, so why don't we just let Nano tire her out and then-"  
He didn't get to finish that sentence because his jaw dropped as an arrow flew by and obliterated his boundary glyph. Barely missing us.  
"Dafurq?" I asked.  
"SORRY!" I heard from a couple buildings away.  
"Milly?" I asked noticing fox ears on the archers head.  
"No, that's Teresa," Orion said behind me and I jumped.  
"Pffft," He continued, "I thought you could see in all directions,"  
"I can't," I responded, turning around. Orion raised his eyebrows,  
"Since when did you have eyes?" He asked.  
"Since he came around," I said, pointing at Nano.  
"Who's that?" "His dead brother," Tyler said.  
"Uhhh, do I wanna ask?" He questioned as Nano was nearly blown off the building again and teleported back.  
"If you did, you wouldn't get an answer." I said and the shaman landed nearby, apparently dropping from the sky.  
"Oh good, your unseen companion shows himself."  
"He's done it before," I commented.  
"Hmmm." He hummed. Then Teresa arrived.  
"Oh great!" I said, "We can all die together!" As two pink ursas and a pink boarbatusk leapt out of the hole Nio made when he fell through the floor, followed by a full pack of beowulves(about twenty).

(Glorious fight scene time! But what will Epsilon do without a weapon, and no extras nearby? Find out next chapter which I will most likely post along with this chapter)  
- 


	19. Chapter 19

ame person, same time.

"Becareful, the Ursas' teeth will Ignore your aura!" I called, remembering the bullet I found in my shoulder.  
"He's not joking!" yelled Aries as he pounded on the head of the Ursa that was munching on the left pauldron of his ceramic gold plate armor. Teresa shot an arrow at the ursa and it dropped Aries and dodged the arrow.  
"They're also a lot faster than other Ursas," she said.  
"But they should fall just the same," Cole said, two unconscious beowulves nearby,"do not let the beowulves bite you, else you will share the same curse as I," he added. Aries drew Volund and started firing, groaning with dismay as the pink boarbatusk shook and generated extra armor, deflecting his bullets completely.  
Orion drew a sword and looked at me, I took it, nodded and we jumped onto the other Ursa, I, slashing at it's knees, he, attacking it's head. Attacking it's knees did little more than get it angry at me, which is what we were counting on, jumping out of the way early, in anticipation of its lightning fast strikes, I landed to its left and ran to the edge of the building, it dropped to all fours in order to follow, it nearly got to me before I met eye contact with Tyler, who played a tune he had told me about before, I stepped backward, off the building, to stand on the wall, a glyph glowing below me(? To my right?). The ursa was fast, which meant it didn't have time to stop its charge, especially with Orion on its back, stabbing at its eyes. He didn't jump off in time and nearly fell along with the Ursa, but I grabbed him, tossing him back onto the building. Stepping onto the building as well, I noticed Teresa aiming down at the still living Ursa.  
"Dodge this," she whispered, and sent an arrow into the top of its head. "Nice shot," I said.  
"Nice explosion," she responded, pressing a button on her bow.  
"Gross," I said and she smiled.  
"I tend to go a little over board sometimes," she said, wiggling her ears. She then unclipped to small axes from her legs and went to help Aries, who was getting gored by the boarbatusk. Volund was on the other side of the building, and I raised my hand to bring it toward me, forgetting that my semblance was suppressed, nearly paying for that mistake with my arm, I snatched my arm back and beheaded the beowulf that had nearly bitten it.  
"Your sight blinds you, blind seer." Cole said nearby, home running a beowulf's head off its shoulders.  
"I've been told that before," I responded, cutting another beowulf in two. And so we went, at one point I nearly jumped off the building trying to stay out of the way of yet another bolt of fire flying from Nano's fight, but after we got Aries off the boarbatusk the fight got relatively tame. Tyler and Orion sustained a boundary glyph around us while Cole and I examined Aries. "Will I be able to play the piano after this, doc?"  
"Probably, the damage to your armor is extensive but we should be able to heal any flesh wounds." I said.  
"Great!" He said "I always wanted to play the piano!"  
"Not the time, Gold paladin." Cole said solemnly.  
"Gold paladin? Since when am I the gold paladin?"  
"Since the Blue Paladin approaches," Cole answered as Nio leaped out of the hole in the floor.  
"Sup?" He called, getting thrown off the building by another stray blast of fire. "I'll go make sure he's okay," Teresa suggested. Jumping off the building after him.  
"Anyone else notice that there's a helicopter suspended in mid-air over there?" Orion pondered.  
"Shhhh, Orion, we must focus now," Cole said quietly, Orion, surprisingly, did so and we started healing our fallen comrade. I noticed while channeling my aura to heal his wounds that Aries had taken damage to both sides of his mid section, near the kidneys, thankfully, he hadn't taken damage to any vital organs and both kidneys were intact. It healed quickly, his body accepting mine and Cole's combined auras. Strange, psychadelic, colors happened as a result of my emerald green mixing with the violet and gold of their auras. What happened next seriously surprised me: his armor started mending itself before our eyes, I raised my eyebrows but this seemed common place for them, excluding Tyler, who wasn't paying attention. My scroll, which wasn't useless, at the time, beeped and I noticed a message from Hunter saying Torchwick had gotten away. Having called a second helicopter to his location. Suddenly, my eyes burned, and I had to close them, I noticed that my semblance was once again working.  
"Incoming," I said, as Tylers boundary glyph took a hit. I 'looked' around, extending my awareness in all directions.  
"Pfft, easy," I said, noticing she was standing below the helicopter, activating a complex glyph.  
"I know that glyph," Orion said, and pulled Aries out of its way. "Yea, we want to move," I said, picking Aries up magnetically by his armor. A beam as hot as the sun streamed past us. Removing the supports holding the helicopter, I dropped 12 tons of steel directly on top of her. The beam appeared through the metal, having melted through it.  
"I knew that wouldn't work," Tyler said, "Agent what's-her-face over there is a bit of a badass." 'Glaring' at him, I jumped out of the way of the beam. "Sooo, now what?" I asked.  
"We have to wait for her to tire out, just like I had," Orion said, "Neither mine nor Tylers glyphs can stand up to hers," "Can you both do that?" I asked, pointing at the glyph she was doing, and Tyler shook his head. "Can she still hear while she's in there?" I questioned. And Orion nodded, then I grinned.  
Orion began doing his glyph and I sprinted toward the wreckage of the helicopter. She stood in the center, using her daggers to direct the beam. She saw me and started aiming the beam toward me. I held her attention, while Orion completed his glyph, hitting her with the same beam, she nearly laughed, while I slammed the forcefield with my borrowed sword, flying back behind Orion, completing a flip and landing on my feet. Where Tyler was starting a song, I covered my ears and crouched, and the song Tyler used to knock out the Nevermore touched my ears. Soon enough, both she and Orion fell asleep, the beams canceling as the glyphs were unable to be sustained. Walking over, I kicked away her daggers and contructed a cage from the helicopter, I also lowered Aries to the rooftop. Dropping him from a foot high to wake him up. Teresa and Nio poked their heads up from the fire escape, Nio having deactivated his armor. I messaged Hunter saying we had subdued the woman and emptied the building of dust charged grimm. We went to the airshipport the next day and flew back to beacon.

(A good mission completion eh? And now that she has been apprehended, she probably won't be working with Roman Torchwick next time he goes with the white fang to steal dust, heh,heh, nobody figured out how I was going to tie in the story to RWBY so no one gets the cookie, someone did actually get who the shaman was so they get a cookie next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW AND PM ME YOUR THOUGHTS! Sorry about making you think drama about Epsilon not having a sword might happen only to resolve that problem in the first couple paragraphs. :P)  
- 


	20. Chapter 20:The kiss

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

When we returned to the school, we reported directly to Ozpin, and he congratulated us on a job well done, sort of.  
"The escape of Torchwick, however circumstantial, can not be overlooked, Hunter, you have a team, use it, otherwise, the mission was a success, teams COAT, and HENT synergizing well, despite your separation of groups, is intriguing, and shall be checked upon, other, unforeseen, circumstances, present other interesting evidence so as to what, exacly, is going on, the strange grimm are not a result of 'bloody evolution' they are instead, altercations to grimm we know of by, unsavory, groups who focus only one self gain. The question this revelation poses is that why, we are finding them in our forests, and outside of our kingdoms. Regardless, good work, you are dismissed." We walked out the door.  
Chatting along dismissively.  
"So yea, who saw that coming?" I asked.  
"What, the dust charged grimm? The second helicopter? The crazy hot lady?"  
"None of those, me getting asked on a date is what surprised me." "That surprised us all," Tyler said, "especially since I didn't know about this 'date' until now."  
"Oh, yea, well, whatever, how about that entire building full of grimm that Nio decided to take care of on his own?"  
"It was only three floors," He responded shyly."Most of them were in cages anyway,"  
"Anything really strange in there?" Tyler asked.  
"Just a strange cube of iron every now and then. Splitting one open, I found a tiny, pink, beowulf." "Hmmm," "I know that one," I said bowing my head slightly, "I've encountered it before,"  
"Really?" Nio asked "What happened?" "My team didn't survive," I responded.  
"Oh," "Yea, I think I'd like to be alone for a while," I said, turning down a different hallway. They carried on, I stayed behind, lost in thought, until someone tapped on my shoulder, I jumped, not used to being snuck up on. Using my semblance to see, I viewed a random, small, girl, realizing that it was the same girl Ozpin had been talking to outside ports room, seemingly so long ago, I turned around.  
"Why are you crying?" She asked.  
"I can not cry," I responded, touching my face and feeling no tears.  
"Not crying on the outside, but hurting inside." "It's nothing, something I should've gotten over a whilr ago,"  
"It's hard to get over people we've loves and lost, but don't think on it, dwell on the future, and only remember the past, don't relive it over and over again as a result of guilt you might feel."  
"You are surprisingly wise for one so young," I said.  
"Yea, I really miss my home, but chances like these to help others are the reason I decided to become a huntress."  
"Thank you, little one, be safe."  
"Same to you, blind guy," She said, laughing slightly and walking away, her cape billowing behind her slightly. I started walking after my team mates, catching up, I walked beside Tyler, on Hunter's and Nio's right, Tyler and Hunter in the middle. Nio noticed me and said,  
"Hey, sorryabout that, I should've realized it was a sore subje-"  
I cut him off saying,  
"Water under the bridge, man, remember the past, look forward to the future." And so we went, at one point I messaged Milly, asking her to meet me at the airships around eight o'clock. We went through the rest of the day, classes taking up most of them, and I noticed Cardin in one of my student assistant classes, being an idiot again. Oobleck was rambling on about the faunas wars or something. Someone in the front row was put on the spot on said a stupid answer, soliciting an uproar from the rest of the class, something about binoculars.  
Some know it all rubbed it in Cardins face and I laughed. That class finished and then the class after that went by quickly, leading to the time for me to go an a date. Heading out to the airship docks, I noticed Milly, in a flowing, and probably beautiful dress, facing my direction. Before I had headed out, I had gotten into a clean shirt and jeans, not sure what colors they were, but Tyler and Nio assured me it was fine, Hunter nowhere to be found.  
"Hello, handsome," She said, "I'm glad you cleaned up befor eyou came, those old cloths were starting to fade,"  
"Just for you," I responded, mentally facepalming at how stupid I thought I sounded.  
"Awwww," she said,"How cute, now where were thinking of taking me?" She asked.  
"Just down to the city, Tyler recommended a North Eastern kingdom eatery." "Alright," She said, "Then let's get going."  
The airship ride down was uneventful and we stepped out of the airship as a couple, her arm entertwined through mine and holding onto my hand. We strolled through the town leisurely, eventaully making it to the diner, we ate and talked, laughing at anything interesting or strange happening and on the way back to the airship, she looked around, and dragging me along with her, sprinted into the bushes, through a courtyard and eventually coming to a lamplit clearing. Stopping, she sighed and said,  
"I always wished they'd never installed these lamps, the light pollution they create makes into impossible to see the stars,"  
"Was this a good place to see the stars?" I asked.  
"Yes, whenever I used to me struggling with homework or with family issues, I would come here to clear my head. The stars would soothe me, let me see that the people who thought I was different or strange were simply jealous of me, my parents tried to hide my faunasness, they adopted me under the pretense that no one would know, they would put me in dresses and bows that would hide who I was, make me seem like something different, something I wasn't, has that ever happened to you?"  
"I don't believe it has, ever since I could remember, I was feared, hated for my strength, and seperated becasue of what my father did to me, when i got really angry, I would go into the forest and rip ores from the ground, launching them into the horizon, Nano once saw me do this, he stopped me, he told me that my gift could do good, that it could create, instead of only destroy, so, together, we focused on refining my strength, using it, when my father saw what I could do, he would tell me to find ore and rip it from the ground for him, threatening Nano's life if I wouldn't."  
"Thats terrible."  
"Definitely," I responded, "But a little girl told me today to not dwell to much on the past, however, since you seem agitated by my past, how about I bring back a bit of yours?"  
Clenching my hand, I closed up the lamps crushing one and funneling the light from the other into the sky, then, shredding some of the metal, I suspended the filaments in mid-air, placing them in what I imagined to be an accurate recreation of the stars.  
"She gasped, and clung to me, and I grinned, facing up, looking into the sky with sightless eyes. She tapped my shoulder and, not paying attention, I looked back down, as she stood on her tip-toes and kissed me. It lasted a few moments, and I sensed she had closed her eyes, breaking the embrace, I 'looked' at her with surprise etched on my face. "What now?" I asked, barely recovering.  
"Now, we are boyfriend and girlfriend,"  
"Which entails?" I questioned, deja vu lingering somewhere in the back of my mind.  
"Basically nothing more, except that we are nicer to each other, and there's alot more of this," she said, kissing me on the cheek,"Involved," she finished.  
"Sounds good, excuse me if I'm a bit brusque when dealing with you, I've never really had time for a relationship,"  
"Really?" She asked.  
"Yep," I said,"That was, in fact, my first kiss."  
"See?" She said grinning,"learning to trust each other all ready." And so we went, walking back towards the school. 


	21. Chapter 21

So I'm gonna skip all the forever fall stuff because they had it covered and honestly, I despise black mail, hence why I tried it once, and resolved it the next chapter, it makes writing the story greasy and annoying, if that makes any sense, so just assume a couple weeks have passed and you shouldn't be too lost.  
Saturday.  
Name: Julia Last Name:Symphonia  
I jumped out of bed, ready for the day, the day that Tyler had promised to take me shopping, the rest of my team mates never woke up this early, so I was first to shower, then, I was first to breakfast, then I was first to get to my brothers team room. I barged in without knocking.  
"Morning! Bro!" I screamed with excitement. Three heads smashed dents in the ceiling as a result of my entrance at 6 AM sharp. Three of them groaning, I looked around for my brother. I noticed he was the only one still asleep and had his Noise canceling headphones on, the ones he used to practice especially volatile songs, and, climbing the ladder to his bed, I was about to lift one of the headphones and wake him, when his eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the bed, fully clothed.  
"Morning sis!" He said, landing on the floor in a crouch, his blanket falling to the ground behind him.  
"Ready to go?" He asked.  
"YES!" I squealed. We started heading toward the door, but one of his cranky team mates raised a clenched hand, enveloped by a black outline, and the door was blocked by iron bars that appeared from the floor.  
"Who's the girl, and where are you going?" The grumpy one asked, not even lifting his head to look at us.  
"She's my sister, we are going to go shopping." Tyler answered in conjunction with the questions.  
"We said we were gonna practice today, we still don't know the extent of Nio's armor and weapons." A second one grumbled.  
"I know my limits," The final one said, pointing his finger in the air before letting it fall back onto his bed.  
"PLEASE! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!" I screamed. Two of them answered at the same time.  
"FINE! If only you would shut up!"  
One of the two that answered said.  
"We might aswell make it a group thing, we don't wanna develop not as a team."  
"Sounds good," the grumpy one answered, "But I'm not removing those bars until 7 AM. If that happens to be the current time, shoot me now."  
I looked at my watch and pouted, it was still 6:01 AM, meaning I didn't get to shoot the grumpy one, and that I would have to wait another fifty-nine minutes to sprint off the side of the cliff toward the town. So, my brother and I did anything we could while waiting, playing board games, video games, an awesome computer game called Warframe (which I am not trying to make you guys play, but it is awesome) and eventually it was time to leave. The bars disappeared and I groaned as I realized I would have to wait until they got ready for us to go. The grumpy one rolled out of bed in full combat equipment, ruffled hair, and a green blind fold. The metal plates on his shoulders and knees clanged the ground as he fell face first onto the floor. He got up, ruffled his hair almost black but brown some more, and walked away as if that was normal, his armor was completely chrome, as if he made it himself but decided to put no paint on it, his shin guards combined seamlessly with his knee guards, exposing no points at which something could get through, his shoulder armor was the same, chrome and perfectly symmetrical, except for a hole in the one on the left that looked like a bullet hole, underneath his armor he wore a long sleeve black shirt and simple, blue, jeans he had a chest and back plate but no arm armor. The second one to get up, the other that had yelled at me to shut up, rolled out of bed the same way, minus the combat equipment, but the same ruffled hair, and faceplant to wake himself up, he wore a white jacket that came to a detachable hood at the top, strange lumps in the material on his forearms and chest and back inicated that I was wrong, he was in full combat equipment, but it was concealed. The third one to get up, crawled out of his bed and climbed down the ladder leading to the floor, rubbing his eyes, he looked up, and seeing me, went blank faced and hurriedly went out of the room to get dressed, returning in a hoodie that carried trails of luminiscent saphire on his chest and shoulders, flowing onto his back and following his shoulder blades, leveling out to run symmetrically down his spine, his pants glowed with the same neon blue slivers down the sides of the pants, where the seams should be. With everyone ready, we headed out the door and encountered a faunas girl, who had been on the way to check on the grumpy one, she nearly got mad at him, but stayed levelheaded until we explained my family ties to Team HENT. She hmphed and hooked her arm through that of the grumpy one, who was grinning stupidly. We got to the airships without any interruptions, and made it into town, walking through the shops indiscriminately, and eventually came to a small, blacksmiths shop, at the edge of town. We walked inside and I noticed the grumpy one, Epsilon I was told, was frowning. He touched the door with familiarity and we walked inside. Sets of armor and everything from great swords to daggers hung on the walls. Near the back, holographic projectors and other things were in abundance, I could tell the place was old, older than all of us combined, wizened would made up the supports and scratched stone formed walls. Heading toward the back, we heard a great clanging, and I clung to the nearest person, the blue hooded one and my brother glared at him, he shrugged and pointed at clanging continued, the forge was being used.

Name:James Known as: Epsilon  
"We shouldn't have come here," I said, turning to go, but that was my mistake, for as soon as my voice was heard, the sound of the hammer stopped in the back. I started walking walking away but Milly held me to the spot and said,  
"If you run from your past, it will follow you, confront it, deal with it, and leave it behind."  
"I don't think I can do that," I responded, still struggling. "Not with this."  
"I don't think you can either," She said, "I know you can, lets do it together," and she gave me a kiss on the cheek as my 'father' walked into the room.  
There was a pregnant pause as he looked at the six of us in turn, ending with his eyes set on me. His eyes, always set with a squint and no gleam in it, opened now, looking at me, and they glistened on the verge of tears.  
"I can't be," he said, staring at me, reaching toward my face with calloused hands. I was a statue, I hadn't thought what to expect, but if I had, it definitely wasn't this.  
"Has the lost son, changed his stars?"  
"And followed his footsteps back home." I responded, quoting a movie we had played often when I was little, having been penniless and malnourished, it was the only thing we had. He hugged my midsection, being no taller than 5' 2, and, surprising myself, I hugged him back, I forgave the man who had hurt me, who had changed me through pain. Milly was smiling and everyone else was standing around, Julia had started crying on Nio's shoulder. My guardian stepped back and looked around, saying,  
"where's your brother Nano? He must be around here somewhere, he loved to hang around you so."  
I fell ashen faced, and said,  
"He's nearby, but not in the way any of us would wish."  
He looked down,  
"I should've been there for him, for you, could you ever forgive me? I was greedy, cruel, and vain, but I would do anything to talk to my son, your brother, and apologize to you both, alas-"  
"It can be done," I interrupted him. I went through the small shop, knowing every corner of it, and stepped into the back yard, which seemed much smaller now than before. I concentrated and summoned Nano, opening my eyes as I did so and removing my blindfold. Nano looked around and said,  
"What's the problem?"  
"That our father misses you," I responded and led him inside. His eyes blazed the same emerald green as my aura, but he was otherwise the same. My caretaker looked at Nano, and walked over, brushing an old, withered, hand on Nano's arm. He then hugged him, the same tender embrace he used to hug me. Looking at me, he said,  
"How is this possible?" Gesturing too at my healed eyes.  
"I'm not sure," I told him, "ever since he died, he's kind of stayed around helping me."  
"Your eyes, son, how are they healed?"  
"When Nano is around I can't use the strength you gave me, so whenever he's around, he grants me my eyesight."  
His face fell as I mentioned my 'strength' but I shook my head,  
"Don't feel sad about what's been done in the past, and ,in all honesty, I probably wouldn't have gotten into beacon if you hadn't done what you did."  
"Beacon?" He asked, "is that what happened?"  
I nodded, and he said,  
"Then that's alright I guess, Nano always had a passion for swords, and you always wanted to protect him. Did he go down in battle?"  
"No, we were tricked and I was too far away to help."  
"I see, Epsilon, hunt these people down, the ones that took him from us."  
"Already working on it," I answered.  
"Excellent," he said, "now come," He continued, suddenly excited, "I've something for you. I tracked down those swords you made and I sold once I wizened up to my cruelty to make a gift for Nano if you ever returned, and, using the twelve of them, smelted and resmelted the steel in order to make this sword virtually indestructible. Nano was a hand and a half sword fighter, so that's how I made this sword, however, since Nano is still presently around you most, I find it fitting that you take it." Nano dissipated and I activated my semblance to see, closing my eyes simultaneously. He led me to my old room and gestured at a pedestal in the center of it, nearly bursting into tears as he saw my eyes before I got my blindfold on. I shook my head and 'looked' at the sword. Noticing the twelve N and infinity signs trailing down the blade.  
"I never could figure out why they wouldn't come out."  
"I know why," I answered "but I think it's time for a change of pace," I finished, clenching my hand and changing the Ns to epsilons, my namesake.  
"Fitting," my father said, "now carry it, and slay those who took Nano from you, from us."  
"I'll do my best."  
We stayed and talked for a while until we decided it was time to leave, and thus, continued wandering through the town, my new sword strapped on my back.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio  
We left the workshop and continued going through the town, eventually, Julia noticed she was still clinging onto my shoulder and sheepishly let go, to my slight dismay, but Tylers satisfaction.  
"Weren't your eyes blue?" Julia asked, surprising me.  
"No, my eyes have always been brown,"  
"Hm," she shrugged, walking ahead to catch up with her brother(Note* Tyler and Julia are twins, hence why they are so similar to each other and are in the same group of teams). Walking through town, most of us eventually found something we liked, Epsilon, who somehow had a surprisingly large amount of money, bought Milly a set of holographic wings and a halo. The wings had a twelve foot wingspan, and were pure white, the feathers were each produced by a small holoprojector, the wings could be extended or brought back in. It must've cost a fortune, but Epsilon wouldn't let Milly, or anyone, know how much it did cost, she wore the wings, but thought the halo was too much. Continuing through town, Milly thus beautified(pretty sure that's a word)(I noticed its armor capabilities and price before we left, yikes) eventually Julia saw something she liked, a collapsable set of armor that could also change color, once collapsed, it was the size of a small backpack, and could be put on as one backpack for easy deployment in a surprise ambush. Hunter spotted a set of four Bowie knives(why would you ever need so many?) That Epsilon modified to be able to turn into quadruple desert eagles. Tyler was playing a new energy keyboard by the end of the day. I was looking through, but not for myself, the other people on my team either had their own stuff to go through, or simply didn't care, I was in the background, even my neon highlights didn't, couldn't, surprise any of them next to Epsilon's brilliance or Tyler's strange songs, one person, did care, like mother had, before…I saw something, it was small, and I could hide it until I was ready,so I picked it up, bought it, and shoved it in my pocket, hoping no one had noticed, it was silly, considering that I saw Epsilon grinning slyly at me as we left the store, but kept his mouth shut as Milly snuggled up to him.  
We went to a local restaurant and ordered food, the guy in the booth next to us was chowing down on a cookie that must have been three feet wide, he looked alot like me, short blonde hair, but didn't have the same chocolate brown eyes that I have, he wore a plain T-shirt and black jeans, his eyes were iridescent violet.(Note* in case you didn't know, thats the guy who won the cookie for PMing me the identity of the 'shaman' that Julia talked to). He saw me looking and offered me a bite of the huge cookie, but I shook my head quickly. We ate and then left, I trying to forget the way that guys weird violet eyes burned through the back of my head. By Epsilons account, he stopped two muggings, a small robbery, and the sale of a vial of illegal, mind altering, dust. We stayed in the city until the sun went down, and eventually started hearing explosions from the port, gun shots as well, and started sprinting that way at the sound of another of the large helicopters. Getting there, Epsilon stopped cold,  
"What the hell is going on over there?" He asked, as we peeked over a cargo container of dust and saw a girl with strange green markings down her and red hair shoot down two helicopters(these had been upgraded to the point of using rotatable jet engines instead of rotors) and started pulling down a third.  
"She's inhuman," I breathed.  
"No joke," Epsilon said, appearing next to me, "She's very inhuman, the only part of her that probably is human is her brain."  
"What?"  
"She's, a, robot. Do I have to spell it out for you?"  
"What makes you say that?" I asked.  
"The fact that almost all of her is magnetic might be a tip-off." He asnwered.  
I had stopped paying attention, staring at something a faunas boy wielded.  
"Are those, gunchucks?"  
"Yep," Epsilon responded.  
"Sweet."  
We readied ourselves to help, but it turned out we didn't need to. Afterwards, the strange girl got in a car and was driven away, and the others regrouped and went to beacon.  
"I've got to get some weaps like those," Epsilon said, indicating the swords the girl used.  
"You already have a sword," Milly said, flicking Epsilons ear playfully.  
"That's like a ceremonial sword, I'll probably only use it for killing blows and stuff."  
"Yea,yea, come on Mr. Brother avenger, its getting late." Milly commented, pulling Epsilon towards the airships against his will, trying to grab one of the swords the girl left behind stuck in a cargo container.  
We got to the airship port and Hunter stepped on board like a pirate, spinning his desert eagles on his fingers saying,  
"Avast, yee fucknuts, we be commandeering this here fine vessel." Epsilon shook his head and, laughing, grabbed his two other guns and followed Hunter's lead, almost directly into Professor Goodwitch.  
"Crap," Hunter and Epsilon said simultaneously, without looking up from her tablet, she grabbed her riding crop and hit the two of them over the head.  
"Language," she said, stepping out of the airship into the night.  
"I didn't even curse that time!" Epsilon called after her.  
Riding the airship up to beacon was simple, and we got to our rooms, Epsilon gave Milly a kiss goodnight, Julia hugged her brother and said,  
"Sleep tight!"  
She then looked at me strangely and walked away. Hunter jumped straight up, onto his bed, and fell asleep instantly, Tyler brought one of his violins with him and plugged his headphones into it, playing it, no song came out, and he eventually fell back, unconscious, the violin powering down after a couple minutes of non-use. I climbed into my bed and laid back, thinking about the day, Epsilon also climbed into his bed and used his semblance to turn off the light plunging me, and the room, into darkness.

(Wow, kind of powerful chapter, at least to me, not sure why, but I had to take a break after writing the part about Epsilon's father that went alot like this: lie down, try not to cry, cry alot. So yea, PM me if you get the Red vs. Blue reference from chapter 18, first person to do so, gets the forth, and probably final, cookie *Note: these chapters are taking so long because all wirelessness here in Boquete has gone to crap and I have something of writers block with this story, this comes from 1. You guys not sending me ideas, 2. My terribleness at writing romance and 3. That I would love to do this parallel to the second season of RWBY, and actually am being forced to, my inside guy not having told me more backstory to the actual show, this limits my imagination and what I can do, if you see loopholes PM me! I wouldn't like my story to be ripped to shreds by the new season by referencing Team RWBY and all them nearby when in fact they've gone on some top secret mission to be revealed, I AM NOT SAYING THIS HAPPENS IN RWBY DO NOT PM ME FOR SPOILERS! On another note, mad at me for waiting for season two before writing moar? Please check out some other stories I'm doing: The Electric Gigalith, and The Alchemists Apprentice, which should be submitted along with this)  
-¶


	22. Chapter 22:The sword

"All I've got in this world, is time, I can use it, I can spend it, and I can waste it, so I would coose to use it, to spend it, with one I love, and one who loves me back." -Villhelm

Name: James Known as:Epsilon  
Waking up late on sunday, I plopped out of bed and went to brush me teeth, coming back into the room, I noticed no one was around, they'd left somewhere without me. I cast my 'sight' further and further until I found them in a training room far away, I shrugged, and went through the motions of getting ready for the day. Clipping on my armor, going to wash my hair in the bathroom, and walking out the door and down the hall to grab breakfast. When I got there, no one was around, except Ozpin.  
"Late start today, Epsilon?"  
He asked, not looking up from a news report on his tablet thing and sipping coffee.  
"A bit, but its a relief they're still serving breakfast,"  
"They're not, Epsilon, it's four in the afternoon." I drew a blank,  
"What?"  
"You couldn't be roused this morning, they went as far as telling Yang she could do what she wanted, which explains the writing on your face,"  
"What writing? Who's Yang?"  
"Nevermind, just wash your face thoroughly as soon as possible."  
I nodded, and started walking out of the room, wondering what was going on.  
"Is there anything you want to tell me Epsilon?"  
I froze,  
"Nope, nothing at all."  
"Alright, make sure not to overextend yourself, with range, comes weakness." I nodded, and continued out the door. Stopping to clean my face on the way.  
I got to the training room to see them facing off against two boarbatusks. Nio sprinted forward to one of them and slid under it, skidding with barely enough clearance between it's legs, stopping underneath it and stabbing through it with his energy sword. It grew larger, lifting the boarbatusk slightly as it pierced the boarbatusks back armor. Hunter and Tyler were dealing with the other, Hunter duel wielding his Beagles(Bowie Deagles) drawing its attention, it's high density rounds began punching through the Boarbatusks armor, the bullets evaporating as they would've hit the ground, Tyler jumped over it, powering his duel axes into being in mid-air, landing behind it, he did a kind of breakdance move spinning the axes underneath him, removing feet from the boarbatusks arsenal, Hunter transformed the Beagles and stabbed two into the top of it's neck, drawing the other two and using them as a deadly pair of scissors to cut the grimms head from it shoulders. Hunter and Tyler breathed heavy as Nio walked toward them, deactivating his helmet and V shaped visor.  
"Nice run!" Hunter said enthusiastically.  
"Definitely," I said from the side of the room.  
"Oh sweet, you're up, let's do another set," he said, pressing a button to raise six cages from panels in the floor.  
"Go ahead," I answered.  
"Yer not gonna help?"  
"Sure," I answered, clenching my hand and compressing the cages, killing the grimm.  
"Cheater." Hunter said, sticking out his tongue.  
"So? Got the job done."  
"There's no sport in killing defenseless creatures." Tyler whined.  
"Killing anything at all shouldn't be a sport."  
"Meh, they're grimm, they don't have souls." Tyler said.  
"But they have life, and all life is sacred." I finished.  
"So how about some sparring instead?" Hunter said, trying to lighten the topic.  
"I'm down for it." I said, drawing my sword.  
"You wanna go?" Tyler said jokingly, raising his duel axes and connecting them at the center.  
"Let's do it." I said, walking into the center of the ring. Tyler flipped his axes around and charged, I waited to the last second, raising my sword to parry, and one of the axe heads slammed into the sword, I 'watched' in slow motion as a vibration shivered down the sword and was absorbed into the hilt, I felt no hit at all, and the kinetic energy from the strike had been absorbed completely. We stood, eyebrows raised, jaws dropped for a moment, and we both jumped back simultaneously. I 'looked' at the sword, poking the ground and watching it absorb any contact damage it might've received. We ran toward each other, I parried each strike, the heavy axes relied mostly on momentum to carry them through blows, my sword obliterated that tactic, absorbing any kinetic energy it would take as a blow without eating up the kinetic energy from swinging it. At one point, tyler kicked at the sword and connected with the flat of the blade, a blow which should have thrown the sword from my hand and tossed it across the room. But his foot was stopped as soon as it touched the blade, his entire body freezing for a moment before nearly falling sideways. We stopped to examine the sword, all I'd done was block with it, so what happens if I tried to hit something? I formed the cages into a solid block of metal, and swung downwards at it, the sword vibrated as it neared the block, and then passed directly through it.  
"Great, an intangible sword," I grumbled.  
"Intangible?" Hunter asked,  
"Immeasurable, I can't hit anything with it, it just blocks and looks cool,"  
"Uhhh, guys?" Nio called as he pulled the blocks apart, separated down the center by the sword.  
"Siiiiiiick," Hunter said, "lemme see," I handed it to him and he froze, literally, all kinetic energy absorbed as it came in contact with him, he couldn't even fall down as a result. I quickly took the sword back, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.  
"If all kinetic energy is absorbed, that means it stopped his heart for as long as he held it, right?" Nio suggested.  
I sheathed the sword onto my back, picking Hunter up and sprinting to the hospital, careful not to knock him into the sword. He was breathing, but shallowly, and I sprinted the entire way, Nio and Tyler close behind. Milly was there when we arrived, doing volunteer work for class hours.  
"Hey sweetie, it's nice of you to visit me, bu-, what happened?" She cut herself off, noticing Hunter over my shoulder.  
"Training accident, his heart was stopped for a few seconds, don't touch the sword on my back."  
She nodded, and had me lay him on a bed, running a few scans with a metal stick thing on the same side of Hunter as me. Paying special attention to it around his cranium.  
"Your friend is lucky,"  
"He's my brother,"  
"Oh, anyway, this checks for dead tissue as a result of oxygen deprivation, him only having lost blood flow for a couple seconds,"  
"Around fifteen, because we were wondering what the heck was happening,"  
"Okay, so, as I was saying, no tissue has died as a result of it, but be more careful in the future, if it was your sword that caused it, you should probably not use it often." I nodded,  
"So what happens now?"  
"I get to enjoy the company of my boyfriend while his little brother reboots his brain."  
"Will he be ok? I've already killed one of my brothers by accident, I don't want him to die if I could help."  
"He'll definitely recover, soon, who's this other brother? Not Nano I'm hoping." She asked while sitting in a seat across from me.  
I shook my head,  
"Apparently I was actually adopted by the man who gave me the sword, my real father blames me for the death of his oldest son, and taught Hunter here the best and easiest ways to kill me."  
"So, what happened to this, eldest brother."  
"He loved playing with me, but since I had a natural semblance I couldn't control it as a toddler, apparently we were playing in a field, and my semblance got explosive."  
"I'm sorry," she said, sympathizing with pain that couldn't show itself in the form of tears. She wrapped her arms around me, having walked around Hunter without me noticing. She cried for me, but I couldn't understand why,  
"You don't have to cry," I said, as Tyler and Nio caught up, Nio having powered down his armor and Tyler not as fueled as I had been with adrenaline.  
"Is he dead? Did he die?" Tyler asked, his voice trembling slightly.  
Milly shook her head, and wiped the tears from her face.  
"So why are you cryin-" Tyler started to ask, but Nio shook his head. I hugged Milly and whispered in her ear I'd see her later, which was easy, her tall ears covering my mouth as I spoke, my height making it easy to whisper into them. She walked away and started folding some scrubs and I told Tyler and Nio the situation. We waited until Hunter woke up, we were surprised when he did, because he jumped out of the bed and landed in a roll, drawing his hidden sword and expanding his shield. He looked around for a second, eyes wild, before seeing us and calming down.  
"What happened? Where are we?"  
"You touched my sword and lost consciousness, I carried you to the hospital wing as you slept."  
"Why did I get knocked out?"  
"The sword sucked all kinetic energy from your body, stopping your heart and blood."  
"Wow, scary sword."  
"Yea, I'm probably gonna have to order another from my dad."  
"No joke, that thing is awesome." Our faces blanked, limestone crudely carved with facial features would have shown more expression than everyone in the room.  
"What?" I managed.  
"Come on! A kinetic energy, vibration charging, heart stopping, super sword is ultra sick."  
"Buh, um, you could've died."  
"One of the space jettisoning lockers could land on me right now and I would die, you would touch it with your sword and laugh as it froze in mid-air."  
"He has a point," Tyler said, "any large incoming projectiles are basically useless now, missile strike? Freeze the missiles, sword attack? Touch the sword then slice the enemy in have like a hot knife through butter, that thing, is OP." I grinned,  
"We've gotta test it."

Twenty minutes later, I was on the back of a nevermore, screaming for my life.  
"Stop screaming, yer not gonna fall." Hunter said nearby,  
"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?!"  
"I wouldn't miss this if it gave me a heart attack, now jump on my shield!" I did so, and he launched me ahead of the Nevermore, it attacked, and I blocked with the sword, it grabbed it and froze completely, losing the ability to fall. The sword did not, however, absorb Hunter's momentum. He flew over the side, out of my reach, and I held onto the sword,  
"i'm okay!" I heard from somewhere far below me. I climbed onto its back, it's feather ruffling as I did so, and pulled out the notebook I had brought with me in a backpack. Writing down that the sword would only freeze that which it has direct contact with, explaining why it's feathers moved while it's body was harder than stone. I walked on the Nevermore's left wing carefully, we were no longer moving, but the wind was still intense. I would survive the fall, but then how would I get the sword back, I waved down at the specks on the ground that were Tyler, Hunter, and Nio. They started talking, and Nio jumped onto the Nevermore with help from his Suit and Hunter's impressive strength.  
"Yo," he said, landing on it.  
"You think the nevermore is dead by now?"  
"No, it's still quite an intense poem by Edgar Alan Poe."  
I 'glared' at him,  
"Oh, you mean the bird. Yea, it's probably dead at this point."  
"How do I get the sword back?"  
"I don't know, this wasn't my idea. But if you do get it back, and we start falling, I can catch you and we should land alright."  
"My hero," I said sarcastically, "Nano!"  
"Sup?" He said appearing at my side and nearly startling me off the bird. I took off the blindfold as I noticed he was there.  
"Could you grab me that sword over there?" I asked, pointing at the sword that the bird was holding onto.  
"Sure," he said, jumping at it and freezing as soon as he touched it. He dematerialized and rematerialized right next to me.  
"Correction, no, I can't."  
"How come you weren't frozen completely?" I asked.  
"It looks like the sword only absorbs kinetic energy, any aura energy Nano uses probably won't be affected by it." Nio suggested.  
"Good point, thanks Nano!" I said, closing my eyes and putting on the blindfold in time so that Nio didn't see the remains of my eyes.  
"So, what's the plan now?"  
"Semblance time," I said, clenching my hand and pulling the sword toward me, it went straight through the bird with no resistance, and I caught it as we started falling,  
"Gross," I said as the top of the bird's head flapped in the wind like a double hinged door in a kitchen.  
"Shall we?" Nio asked, holding out his arms.  
"Nope," I answered as I activated my aura. Driving a small crater in the ground as I landed. Nio landed nearby, rolling because he didn't have a passenger. My aura was still overflowing from summoning Nano, an added bonus to the fact that he helped me figure something about the sword out.  
"Cool, what did we learn?" Hunter asked and I handed him the notebook.  
"I think that's enough adventuring today." I said, to be proven wrong by the appearance of two ursas, three beowulves, and a boarbatusk. I shook my head and sliced through all of them at range, using my semblance to control my sword. Hunter put away his Beagles,  
"Awww, I thought we might have a little fun today."  
"Nah, I'm too tired, but you guys go ahead and fight the emerald forest." I answered, yawning. I went back to the room, grabbing dinner on the way(it was around 7 PM by this point), and falling asleep the second my head touched the pillow after a quick shower.

(Sweet sword, but to prevent it from being to OP, I've put a hobble on it, and I'm probably less subtle than I imagined, so most of you probably already know what it is, if you don't, I'm not gonna tell you, just to make you mad, what other point is there to being a, what am I? Fanfic writer? I don't wanna say author cuz I've only published one book, but yea, I literally only do this to bother you guys. Remember that one time Nio and Tyler were about to fight, and instead I cut to the introductions of a completely different team? I did that on purpose, and I'm gonna do it again later to introduce Julia's team, it's gonna be at the tournament, and Epsilon's gonna be getting ready to fight some big, burly, bad ass, and boom! Julia's abilities and fighting style will be revealed,(not exactly like that, probably, I wouldn't want to actually give out spoilers) along with the rest of her team. So yea, look forward to that, speaking of Julia's team, I have space for three more OC's so PM me, otherwise I'll have to beat my resident bull for some BS characters. PM ME! REVIEW! I can't tell how good or bad I'm doing without you guys telling me, I don't know if 800 or so views are good or bad, considering this is the first story I've published here and by far is (apparently) the most successful. Sorry for the holdup tho, had to think of an aweshum present for Milly and an even aweshumer one that relates inadvertently to Julia's backstory(is that a spoiler? I can't tell. ONLY TWO CHAPTER?! I wrote ten for another story, sorry about that)  
-¶


	23. Chapter 23

I woke up the next day on time as a result of going to sleep so early, I rolled out of bed and landed on my back, letting the sword absorb kinetic impact damage, then stood, and shook everyone elses bed to get them up, Hunter woke and rolled out of bed the same as I did, Nio woke and climbed down the ladder, and Tyler was already out of bed and down the hall on the way to the bathrooms. They grouped up and walked out the door to their classes and I waved to them and left to go to mine, the uniform blindfold not feeling anywhere near as good as my normal blindfold, but apparently matched with the uniform. I walked into ports room and he began an explaination on dust charged grimm, I paid mild attention, not really caring about what he was saying, having already fought most of these new grimm. As usual, he started ranting about he or his father would've dealt with the grimm, apparently even his cabbage smelling granpa would have rended these grimm limb from limb with their bare hands, and he then went on to talk about how recent students were dealing with them, dropling nevermores on them, cutting their heads off, and(his personal favorite) letting them detonate themselves. He asked for volunteers to fight one and I sat up at this, he might've gone full crazy and brought one of the self detonating ones, or he might've only gotten half crazy and brought an Ursa or something. He hadn't asked me to help, but noticed me sitting up and said,  
"Ho, oh! It looks like our resident blind assassin wants a go at the creature. C'mon down here m'boy! And face, your opponent."  
'Crap,' I thought, standing and walking to the front. The Cardin in our year pulled out one of his smaller pistols,(He was a gunslinger, and has a LOT of guns) and shot at my leg discreetly, the silencer made it sound like nothing more than a gust of wind, but I sensed it, and caught the bullet on my sword, it dropped to the ground, and I scooped it up and dropped it in my pocket. A pink beowulf walked out of the cage Professor Port opened and howled, sprinting toward me with alarmin speed, and some of the girls(including Milly) held their breath, I lazily parried it's attack and with the same strike cut off it's head, jumping forward a little. I took my seat and Milly smiled at me, patting an empty seat next to her, I shrugged and sat next to her as Port rambled about how my strike was sloppy but effective. Milly cuddled up close to me and I stopped paying attention, but pretended to until Port started again with one of his rants.  
"So what was it you were saying when we were making sure Hunter was okay?" She whispered, phrasing it so that it didn't sound like we were spending time alone together if someone were eavssdropping. I shrugged,  
"Nothing, but I was wondering why you were crying," I whispered back, not bothering to do as she did because all I had to do was whisper quieter and she would still be able to hear me.  
"It seemed right, considering what happened." She continued, phrasing it inconspiciously.  
"Meh, It happened a long time ago, scars fade like that, which is why I didn't feel that bad telling you about it, plus, it's not like I even remembered it." I said, getting tired of talking softly and joining her in attempting to inconspicously talk.  
"Hmm, feelings should be felt, especially when something like that happens, promise me you won't bottle up your emotions? You can always come talk to me if you need to."  
"Fine,fine," I relented, and leaned back quickly, smashing into the gunslingers nose, on purpose. He almost cried out in pain, me having leaned back with the force to break his nose, but that would've disrupted Port from his rant, and then he would've had to explain why he was standing up and so close behind us.  
"Enjoying our A,B conversation, weren't you C? Not anymore? Than C your way out," I said, not passing up on a chance to crack one of my cheezy jokes that I kept 'bottled up inside'. I grinned as he grumbled and walked away, resetting his nose, and Milly smacked my chest playfully,  
"That joke was so cheezy I could smell it,"  
"Hey, look at that, I can smell your joke too!" I said, letting out some of my little used sarcasm. She smiled, and looked around for Hunter and the rest of them,  
"Where's your team?"  
"Not here," I said, "They had some stuff more important than classes to attend to," I finished. Mouthing afterwards,  
"I'll tell you later," and gesturing with my head to the Gunslinger leaning over his desk to listen to us.  
"It's impolite to eavesdrop," she said in a slightly louder voice, not turning her head but attracting a few looks from others around us, the gunslinger fumbled to sit quickly back and not get pinned with a few dirty looks from others around us. Port assigned a few reading and dismissed the class, asking me to stay behind and help.  
"Epsilon, may I see that sword of yours, I couldn't help but notice how it simply passed through the neck of the beowulf without cutting it. I drew it to show it to him but pulled it away as he went to touch it.  
"Sorry sir, the last person other than me to touch the sword had his heart stopped."  
"Is that a threat?"  
"No sir,"  
"Why would you want to kill someone then?"  
"I wouldn't, he was my brother sir, it was an accident,"  
"Did he die?"  
"No, the sword absorbs all ki etic energy except that of it's own, and mine, stopping his heart and restarting it once I took it back, but I still had to take him to the hospital."  
"I see," He said, his eyebrows raising, but not enough to reveal his eyes.  
"How did you come across this sword?"  
"My father gave it to me,"  
"Hmmm, are you familiar with Nio  
"Yes,"  
"He allowed us to inspect his armor before he brought it into the school, would you allow us to do the same to your sword?"  
"I would, who do I show it to?"  
"Just leave it with me,"  
"Okay, becareful not to touch it sir, especially if no one else is around."  
He nodded, and I placed it on his laughing as he tossed a pencil at it and the pencil froze in contact with the sword. Diagonally, falling off the side of the desk, I then walked to Oobleck's room, noting that Port was standing on the pencil as I left. I walked into Oobleck's room and took a seat next to Milly, unfortunately, no other seats were open, and Milly was to my left, the gunslinger to my right. Oobleck started rambling at light speed, and I enjoyed the fact that he only ever called on people in the first and second rows, we, being in the fourth. On the other hand, this left the gunslinger to talk to me as ,uch as he wanted, as long as he froze whenever Oobleck checked on us, which wasn't often. He kept trying to get on my nerves by flicking my ears or stepping on my feet, childish things, and I ignored him watching the fiasco going on in Ports room, he had been able to get his desk out from underneath the sword and place it on top of it, doing the same to his chair, he now addressed his class with it's full attention, as they wondered how he stood in mid air as he was doing, having placed papers in contect with the sword in order to make a kind of magic carpet thing. I had to stop paying attention to him as the gunslinger whispered in my ear, saying,  
"You know, I never quite approved of bestiality, but I have to admit, that faunas you're dating has quite a nice rack."  
Nano appeared behind us, reaching around and lifting the gunslinger by his neck, he hung in mid-air, grasping at his throat, but Nano's grip was unbreakable, I immdiately stood and grabbed Nano's shoulder, pulling him to face me and shaking my head,  
"You are going to let him talk about your girlfriend like that?" Nano asked.  
"I'm mad too, but killing him isn't the answer," Oobleck appeared next to us as Nano dropped the gunslinger.  
"Whoisthis?"  
"Uh, well," I hadn't taken my blindfold off, but closed my eyes as Nano dematerialized.  
"Iamwaitingforananswerepsilon."  
"Well, ever since Nano died, he's kind of been hanging around and helping me when I'm in danger, and apparently, something in this room triggered him."  
"Iwonderwhatitcouldbe?" Oobleck said, his speech faster than normal in his curious state.  
"Maybe it was the twelve guns Ryan on the floor there has in his pockets, he did shoot one at me earlier, and Nano could've noticed the one he had aimed at my foot." I said, pulling the bullet from Port's room out of my pocket and pointing at the gun Ryan(gunslinger's name, got tired of calling him 'gunslinger', it's almost more annoying than typing out 'the Alchemist' in another of my fanfics) dropped when Nano lifted him into the air.  
"Aimingagun at another student? Three weeks detention," Oobleck said, slowing down his speech once he understood the situation. We went back down to the front while Ryan was hauled off to the hospital to get his throat checked on.  
"Nice save," Nano said, appearing in the seat next to me. A couple people jumped, and Milly looked at him in fear, I put my arm around her,  
"Don't worry, Nano wasn't a killing machine when he was alive, he's actually a pretty cool person." I said, and she relaxed. I looked at Nano,  
"Don't do that, you could get us arrested, I'll call you if I need help, okay?" I said, and he shrugged,  
"Being invisible and intangible isn'f nearly as fun as one would think it is,"  
"Well, you can stay around then, but try not to hurt people, okay?"  
"Fine,"  
Milly whispered to me,  
"He's kinda scary,"  
"How so?" I whispered back.  
"Well, he should be dead, but he can still come around, doesn't that bother you?"  
"Eh, he's helpful, and I gave some thought to it and it makes sense to think he was allowed to stay behind as some kind of guardian angel granted form and solidity by my aura."  
"Whatever grants bouyancy to your seafaring vessel," he said as he heard my theory.  
"Hm?" Milly asked.  
"Whatever floats yer damn boat, woman, I'm actually thr collective memories Epsilon has of me granted form and solidity by his aura, more like a clone than a soul, which explains why I have no aura and no semblance,"  
I raised my eyebrows,  
"So you're not actually Nano?"  
He shrugged,  
"I am technically, because I represent how you saw Nano, hence why I'm able to teleport around, you never saw what Nano did when he left your side, so my de and rematerialization is a representation of that, I wouldn't be able to do anything you wouldn't think Nano could do, hence why I do what you say and would even go as far as defendin your girlfriend. I just hope you never look around and think, 'Holy crap! Nano Died!' Because then I wouldn't be able to rematerialize, having died."  
"So I'm just gonna go on saying that you are Nano, but you're in like purgatory or something so that you can stay behind and help, that way you didn't just erase your own existence by proving me wrong about you still being around."  
"As a lazy tailor would say, suit yourself," he said, and dematerialized. A couple nearby people were listening and said,  
"What?" Collectively, leading Oobleck to believe he should start his current lesson over again, now including rows three and up, in it, meaning we had no more time to talk, because he was now paying attention to us. He went back through it as quickly as possible(quite fast as I'm sure you know). We all left the classroom with aching hands, because now that he was paying attention, he would notice if you'd stopped writing and would appear at your side to check your whole years notes, assigning extra reading if you were missing any, I couldn't write, and he forgot this often, assigning me twenty extra reading and essays, which I wouldn't be able to do, I always did well on the tests however, because we got special answer remotes and he always read the questions out loud, because apparently the phrasings of some of the questions mattered in concurrence with certain jokes or hints he gave while we were taking notes. I always remembered everything because I had been blessed with an idetic memory,(look it up). That class ended, and just physical training remained, and after that, Milly and I were simply sitting outside the school, she was watching the sunset, I was enjoying her company, and smirking mentally as Port realized that, now that he'd had his fun, he wouldn't be able to get his desk and chair down. We went inside once the sun set, and Milly's tail kept brushing my arm as we walked, my arm around her, my hand resting on her waist. I walked her to her team's room, and she said,  
"I'd rather introduce you to my team later, if gotten a, reputation with them, and want to make sure they know what's what before they see you and so or do something they won't live to regret," I nodded, understanding, gave her a kiss good night, and walked to my room, watching clouds 1 through 8 floating below me(WORDPLAY! ON CLOUD 9 IF YOU GUYS DIDN'T GET IT).

(Hahahahahahahhahahahahah, you thought I was only gonna do two chapters today, nope, one or two extra. Fir now, Notes:I'm gonna be trying to add in more wordplay try not to miss it, and ask me if you don't get it, I don't want my jokes to fly over your heads. I need 3 OCs, and more for other stories, PM ME! REVIEW!)  
-¶


	24. Chapter 24: The Girl

Same day.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio  
"Hey Nio! I've been wondering, where are numbers 1 - 9? Tell me now, or I will destroy your planet Lorien." Hunter joked, having seen the N.10 tattooed on the back of my neck. I looked at him coldly for a split-second, normally we got along sort of well, but my past was not be joked about, I tried to lighten the mood anyway, maybe it would help me forget,  
"Sorry, we all headed our separate ways with our Cépans." I said, referencing the same book series he had(Lorien Legacies, sick books, sick writer. Haven't read em and like my stories? Check 'em out, I try to model myself after the author while adding my own style). He laughed and went back to writing, Oobleck now had a nasty habit of checking your notes if you weren't writing, so I did the same. The pendant I had gotten for Julia lay in my pocket, I planned to slip away from Hunter and my team, Tyler especially, to give it to her, it wasn't flashy like what Epsilon got, but it was heartfelt, and I hoped Julia would respect it. The classes both blew by and took forever, an agonizing duo that nearly made me start tearing my hair out, eventually, thankfully, all our classes finished, and Port asked me to stay behind to help clean up some remains from earlier, I obliged, grateful for the opportunity to get away from the others.  
"You want us to wait for you?" Hunter asked.  
"Nah, I'll catch up soon, don't trouble yourself for me."  
He shrugged, and walked out the door. I helped clean up the mess, and looked under Port's floating desk, confirming my suspicion, Port was using Epsilon's sword to do his magic tricks. Afterward, I started walking out of the classroom and Port called after me,  
"Good luck with the girl!" I was startled, and looked over my shoulder at him,  
"You knew?" I asked, and he nodded,  
"Luck isn't everything in this world, so I try to help out when it doesn't pick up the slack." He said grinning, only represented by both sides of his mustache being upturned.  
"How?"  
"We geezers know a thing or two, why my father cou-"  
"Sorry sir, I gotta go."  
"Oh yes, of course, be on your way then." He said, turning to his desk to try to try again at figuring out how to get it down. I raced to Julia's dorm, she was surely there by now, and I caught her on the way into her room, having started acting casual to walk around the corner. She saw me and said,  
"Hey! How's everything going? Is my brother ok?" I nodded, I had planned out everything to say, but now my voice had gone mute. I had to say something, but had forgotten the plans, I quickly decided to wing it.  
"Y-yea, your brother's doing fine, but I seem to have gotten a bit lost on my way to the mess hall." I said, mildly smoothly, an accomplishment.  
"No, you're going the right way, albeit a winding path from your dorm, the mess hall is down this hall and down the hall on the right." She said, then started going through the door again, I nodded and started walking after my aliby before working up the courage to speak again,  
"Actually, I kinda came here on purpose." I said.  
She looked at me, and grinned  
"Typical boy, trying to make it look like he did everything as planned, so what's up?" She joked, closing the door and facing me.  
"I got you a gift, but I know your brother wouldn't approve of a relationship between us." I said,  
"I'm sure he would approve of it, and even if he didn't I'm the owner of my heart, not him, but let's see this gift shall we?"  
I pulled the necklace out of my pocket, I had chosen it because it matched the neon highlights of my clothes, it was luminescent in the hallway, having charged with light a while ago and now the light traveled up and down it in waves, she watched the waves, mesmerised, and held her hands together, the silky chain pooled in her palms,  
"It's beautiful," She said, still watching it. 'Just like you,' I though, 'crap, that would've been an awesome thing to say, if she took it literally she would enjoy the compliment, if she took it as the cheezy reference it was she would've thought I was funny,' the moment passed, and I decided to go with one of my original plans,  
"I got it because you had asked if my eyes were blue, they aren't, of course, but maybe that one is the blue you were looking for." I said, managing to not stutter at all.  
"Thank you, it's perfect, I wouldn't be able to bare the gift Epsilon got for Milly, but this one is amazing, it will always remind me of you."  
"Will it?" Tyler said, appearing leaning on a nearby wall.  
"Crap," I said.  
"No don't worry, you'll most likely wake up tomorrow, but hurt my sister, and I will know, and then you won't be able to worry about subjects 1 through 9 or any of the ones after you." He threatened, turning around and walking away.  
"Crap," I repeated.  
"It's okay, just, prove to my brother you are good for me." Julia said,  
"And how will I go about doing that?" I asked, leaning on the wall with my head.  
"Be who you are, I like you, so you can't be that bad." She said, putting on the pendant and closing the door. I felt like garbage, covert operation, still got caught, but I couldn't help smiling,  
'She likes me,' I thought, and walked to the mess hall, a bounce in my step.

The Next Day. Morning. Mess Hall.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
Light shone from the high windows, granting a kind of valiant lighting to Tyler's ranting.  
"She's my sister! How could one possibly condone such a relationship?" Tyler ranted.  
"Condone, eh? That the word of the day or what?" I asked munching on a pancake.  
"Honestly, how could he even think of doing that!" He continued while I used my semblance to rub a pen on the ground for a while. I brought it up, the tip red hot, and prepared to scrawl 'over protective' on the back of his neck. Milly saw me just in time and walked over, grabbing the pen out of mid-air, carefully avoiding the still steaming tip. She sat next to me and poked a hole through my carbon fiber tray, proving a point without speaking, I waved my head left and right nodding and then gesturing at the still ranting Tyler with my chin. She shrugged and said,  
"He has a right to rant, it's his sister and that Nio guy seems a little shady."  
"Pfft, you were afraid of Nano, Nio already thinks of himself as a monster, a nice little relationship with a nice little girl couldn't go wrong." I responded. Nano appearing behind us as he heard his name, he stole one of my pancakes and sat next to me.  
"I was called?" He said, eating the stolen good.  
"Holy crap! He can walk, he can talk, and now he can eat! Is there enything this destructive dynamo can't do?" I said in mock disbelief.  
"I technically can eat, but I shouldn't."  
"Why not?" Milly asked, determined to prove me wrong about her being afraid of Nano. I knew exactly what he would do, watching him de- and re- materialize across from us, the food he had eaten not going with him and plopping to the floor.  
"I tell ya' it goes right through me." He joked while Milly wretched, disgusted. I rubbed her back and eventually she resurfaced.  
"Wow Nano was gross." She said, and I gave her a hug,  
"It could be worse, what might happen if he rematerialized where someone was? Would they explode or he?" I said, laughing, and Milly scooted to the right, away from me,  
"Aww come on, don't be like that," Nano said, materializing right next to her, she yelped and scooted back toward me, wrapping her arms around me. I patted her head, unsure of what to do.  
"I'll see ya 'round bro," I said, and Nano nodded, standing and backflipping into non-existence.  
"Thanks," Milly said, and went to eating, I made a mental note of her aversion to Nano, and did the same, laughing as Cardin slipped on the piece of food Nano dropped. Hunter appeared a second later, sitting next to Tyler and trying to look as interested in the ongoing loop of butt hurt that was currently Tyler. Nio sat to the left of me, quietly, efficiently, eating his food, his hood up.  
"Nio, you might wanna put your hood down." I said, mildly urgently.  
"Hm?"  
"Your hood, drop it, uniforms much? Not to mention is on the way."  
He nodded, and put down the hood, Goodwitch walked by me, cracking me on the head with the riding crop thing,  
"Language, Epsilon,"  
"Motherfu-," I interrupted myself, "I didn't even curse that time." I called after her. Rubbing my head,  
"That thing is starting to hurt," I grumbled,  
"Awww, does da wittle baby want me to kiss his booboos?" Milly asked playfully,  
"Actually yea, I've got one right here," I said, turning my head and pointing at my lips. She smiled, and pointed at a sign that said, 'NO PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION'. I raised my hand and crumpled the sign, raising my eyebrows and looking at her. We nearly kissed and Goodwitch came by again, cracking me on the head,  
"PDA, Epsilon," she said, not looking up from her tablet, I rubbed my head again as Tyler noticed Nio sitting at the table.  
"Completely disrespectful, I can't see why you didn't come to me first, is that even a blig blah blah blah blah blah." I tuned Tyler out and put my arm around Milly, checking to see if Goodwitch was nearby. She wasn't, and I relaxed, Tyler scolded Nio until I decided enough was enough and pinched a fork around his nose with my semblance. Muting most of him, and using a knife to latch his mouth shut. He glared at me, and I removed them as Milly elbowed me, Goodwitch standing behind me.  
"Crap," I said, and she cracked me over the head twice more,  
"Language and PDA, my, my, Epsilon, having quite a bad day and it's only morning. I'll see you after school for detention." I laid my head on the table, apparently too quickly.  
"Respect school property Epsilon! That's two for three, one more strike, and you don't want to know what happens." I sighed, patting Milly on the head and walking to put away my tray.

Later. After classes. Hallway outside Port's room.  
I was walking down the hallway, and went into Prof. Port's class room,  
"Hey, is my sword approved yet?"  
"If you can get all my stuff down without breaking anything, I'll say yes. No glyphs or malicious dust can be found on or within it," he answered, scratching his head. I grinned, grabbing the hilt and lowering the entire scene down slowly. I got it to the ground and pulled out my sword.  
"Excellent, thank you m'boy, if anyone else potentially needs to wield the sword, see Professor Ozpin, he has discovered a way for it to not kill people." Port said, I nodded, heading off to my detention.  
I got there, and Goodwitch was standing out the door,  
"Late to detention, that's three, follow me Epsilon." Good witch said, and I followed her out of the building to the Emerald forest.  
"You now have to clean up Ursa, excrement." She said, I grumbled, but jumped off the cliff with a shovel. Taking the dung to the river and dropping it in there, two hours passed, and I was nearly done, an Ursa had been watching me for a while from within the trees, it eventually decided it was a good idea to attack. It stepped from the shadows, and I dropped the shovel and drew my sword, letting it charge toward me, I parried it's strike, having to put a surprising amount of force behind the parry, the sword didn't want to absorb anymore, it doing so for two whole days had left it full, I had to use up the energy it stored. I ducked as the Ursa struck again, and rolled to the left, slicing through it's right leg with the same action, and stood, turning and cutting it's paw of it's foreleg, ducking as it tried to punch me with the nub of an arm it had, it's leg and paw were regenerating. I stabbed it in the stomach and jumped, beginning to cleave it in half, but the sword ran out of energy on the way, and caught on it's midsection, I continued anyway, using my semblance to use the sword to lift the Ursa over my head and slamming it's head on the ground behind me, finishing cutting it in half. I took a breath, and groaned as I 'watched' both sides create a new Ursa. Parrying two attacks at once, I froze both Ursas(Ursai?) long enough to cut them both in half, so then four formed, then eight, then sixteen, and soon enough, thirty two Ursas(Ursai?) were following behind me as I sprinted toward beacon, the paw and leg I had cut off had also formed Ursai(Ursas?) so in actuality thirty four were following me. Good witch saw me sprint out of the trees, and run toward the cliff path to get up. I bent, panting, at her side, trying to explain why I wasn't able to kill a mere thirty four Ursai. She nodded with understanding, and drew her riding crop, completing a glyph before I could stop her, the glyph sent out arcs of light, cutting the Ursai to stripes. They reformed, now around a hundred or so.  
"Oh," she said. I nodded,  
"I would've stood around cutting them in half all day, but it doesn't work out too well." I said as soon as my breathing returned to normal. It was her turn to nod,  
"What happens if you crush them?" She asked, and I took it as an invitation to draw an ore deposit from the ground and mash one into the floor. She asked me to lift it to observe what happened. I did so and 'watched' in dismay as hundreds regenerated from the mush of the crushed Ursa. She nodded, and drew her riding crop again, completing a complex fire glyph with some difficulty, fire not being her specialization, and every Ursa at the bottom of the cliff caught fire, burning to death, and not regenerating.  
"Whew," I sighed, wiping sweat from my brow.  
"Yes, fire is effective against them, I imagine because it cauterizes the wounds. Quite helpful, okay, get back to work." I grumbled again and walked down the path around the charred remains of the Ursas(Ursai?). I finished cleaning up the crap and walked back. Putting the shovel in the small shed near the school.  
"You are dismissed, and we wouldn't want to do this again would we? No, so watch your mouth, and keep your hands, to your self." I nodded and walked into the school.  
I didn't make it to it.


	25. Chapter 25

A carrier descended from the sky, its jets keeping it from slamming into me, ten white fang goons jumped down to me, I started fighting them off, and Goodwitch ran to help, I parried a strike to my right, to be thrown to the ground as a strike to my left hit me, I wasn't wearing my armor, and was paying for it now. I dodged and jumped, trying to work myself out of the circle they had got me in, not succeeding because a shot from that guy in the helicopter would blast through the last of my dwindling aura, I tried to slam the helicopter to the ground around me with my semblance, but met with a familiar resistance, one I'd only ever felt once before. I slashed to my left, cutting through the sword of an enemy, jumping over a sword strike, I landed and rolled forward, parrying an attack from the right and removing the attackers arms from his shoulders, eight enemies faced me now, the one whose sword I had cut had climbed back into the carrier. I surveyed them carefully, trying not to miss a single tell, but had forgotten Roman Torchwick watching from above, the floor behind me exploded, and threw me onto them, instead of skewering me, they grabbed me and tossed me into a cage, some unlucky guy yanked my sword from my hand and they closed the cage, Goodwitch was engaged in combat with the fire glyph woman, and I blacked out.

Next Day.

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia  
"You guys seen Epsilon around anywhere?" Milly asked, concerned, we shrugged,  
"We assumed he was with you last night, having a good time," Hunter said implyingly, earning a slap in the face.  
"I'm really worried about him, what if Goodwitch tore him to pieces in that detention because he made a comment about how he's blind and how the coloring of the detention room doesn't matter to him."  
"Please, Goodwitch wouldn't kill a student, Right?" I said, ending timidly.  
"You haven't been in detention with her. But seriously, maybe we should look for him." Milly pleaded just as Ozpin came on the intercom.  
"Would Team HENT please report to my office? At least, what remains of you."  
We jumped up and ran to the office, Milly following even though she wasn't requested. We got there and Ozpin addressed us.  
"Ms. Liberty, I don't remember asking you to come."  
"If it's about what happened to Epsilon, I'm not leaving." She said fiercely, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged.  
"Epsilon has been captured by the white fang." Ozpin said as one would rip off a bandage.  
"Wow, that was direct." Milly said, then walked out of the room.  
"Yes, we have some of the best hunters and huntresses around searching for him, but Glynda finds it prudent that I extend an invitation to you three to help, given the circumstances, so if you think you can find him better or faster than Goodwitch herself, who feels directly responsible, you would all be excused from your classes until he is found and brought home safely."  
"Well, not to say we could do better than Goodwitch, but two heads are better than one right? Maybe we'll just think of something first." Hunter said diplomatically.  
Ozpin nodded,  
"Be on your way then." He said, dismissing us. Milly was waiting outside the door,  
"What's the sitch?" She asked, her long cargo pants and plain shirt making her look suspiciously like a cartoon character from a show I never remembered watching, just saw an ad for when I was little.  
"We are gonna find him." Hunter repsonded, determination in his eyes.  
"Thank you!" She squealed and kissed him on the cheek, running off afterward to change and get to class.  
"What was that about?" I asked.  
"She really likes my brother," Hunter answered, dazed, he shook his head,  
"The first step will be to find where the white fang might've taken him." He said, his eyes coming back into focus. We nodded, and Nio pulled out his scroll and walked off, apparently asking some random contact or other from his past for help.  
Hunter and I formulated a plan to follow some white fang guys to their base.

Time: Unknown

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
I woke with a start, my arms and legs strapped to a table. I 'looked' around, and saw that I was in a laboratory. I struggled against the bonds, realizing that I wouldn't be able to break them, and, I noticed I was being watched, a doctor with a masked face walking into the room as soon as I started struggling, he looked at me, nodded, and attached a tube leading from my arm to a bag.  
"This will reduce your aura strength temporarily, can't have your aura blocking any of the needles." He said, and I grinned,  
"NANO!" I yelled, and he appeared right next to me, uppercutting the doctor and then detaching the straps. I had to lean on him to get out, I was weak from not having moved for a while, I leaned on a wall as Nano took out two guards, and picked me up, moving along, now with a weapon. Another guard appeared,  
"Stop Or I'll shoot!" Nano laughed and stood in front of me, taking three shots and a hit to the head before punching the guard in the face, knocking him out cold. We kept going, no more guards appearing, but Nano started fading,  
"That liquid, they gave you, its making me fade, take these," he said, handing me the weapons he had scavenged. I held the gun in front of me, leaning on the wall to continue forward and aim, shooting three guards and a scientist to get out. I walked into the night, struggling now with no walls to lean on. Crawling toward a gate, shooting two more guards on the way with startling accuracy. Torchwick appeared above me,  
"You just don't give up." He said, kicking me in the head and knocking me out.  
I woke up a while later, so weak I couldn't even struggle against the bonds, summoning Nano not being an option, I waited for something to happen. Eventually, Tochwick walked into the room,  
"Well well well, what are we gonna do with you? Your teleporting friend keeps reappearing in the worst places, at the worst times, while you're asleep, and while you're awake, you go around killing my men, it would probably be easier just to kill you, but, I can't, we need to find some, test subject, that should survive. Normal people die from being dust charged, but normal people didn't go around summoning dead brothers and killing guards did they? So something, tells me, you, will, survive," He said, punctuating every comma in the last sentence with a poke from the barrel of his gun cane on my forehead.  
"Scientists? Start the tests, I wanna see just how resilient this blind kid is," He called to a camera, then looking at me,  
"This, is gonna hurt, alot," he said, turning and walking out of the room as assorted drills and needles descended from the roof.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio  
"So you find anything?" I asked my her,  
"Not exactly," She said, " although, One facility has been recently under fire,"  
"Okay, what does that mean?"  
"it's outside one of the kingdoms, and it was under fire from within, a drugged patient shot and killed nine guards and a scientist, he was only stopped by Torchwick himself on the way to the gate. He's strong, and he has a helper, some random kid that keeps cutting off the power or knocking out scientists at their desks."she responded and I nodded,  
"Where is this base?"  
"Sending coordinates now, becareful, you know your limits, but they might aswell, and take advantage of that, watch out for an armor update later." She said,  
"Okay, mom," I said grinning, she smirked at me and cut off the chat. A moment later, I received a message with latitude and longitude coordinates, followed by a message from Ozpin,  
"Excellent work, do not act on these coordinates, we will satelite check them and then get a team of hunters and huntresses on it."  
'Crap,' I thought, 'I should've known they monitor the scrolls.' I shrugged, it was probably better this way, but winced as I heard somebody writing down the coordinates over my shoulder.  
"Thanks, Nio!" Milly said, walking away, having changed at light speed and followed me.  
"Wait!" I called after her.  
"If you think I'm going to wait on Ozpin and his team of 'hunters and huntresses' you are wrong." She said, not even turning around. I thought quickly,  
"Don't go alone! And wear the gift Epsilon got you, it'll help him identify you!" I said, she stopped for a second, and nodded. Continuing walking away afterwards.  
'Crapcrapcrapcrap.' I thought, sprinting after Hunter and Tyler.

(So yea, who was that contact? Just how crazy is Milly about finding Epsilon? What tests are Epsilon going through(was that question grammatically correct?)? Will I post the next five chapters along with these? I only have the answer to one of these, and it's the last one, yes, you will get the next five chapters along with these ones. REVIEW! PM ME! I NEED OCs)  
-¶


	26. Chapter 26:The Botched Rescue

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
I woke up a while later, the drills still holding me still, they had gone through my skin and drilled into my bones, the pain was extraordinary, and I tried not to pay attention to it, I 'looked' around again, the liquid having worn off, everything, including the drills and the walls were non-magnetic, they had done their research on me before creating this room, I laid there in agony, waiting for something to happen, fearing what it would be once it did. Torchwick walked into the room, without his metal cane, unfortunately, and looked at me,  
"Well that just looks incredibly painful, but not a single tear? You are made of some tough stuff kid, but why do you wear a blind fold? It can't help with your aiming. He started reaching around to undo my blindfold, and I struggled for a moment, and the scientists twitched the drills, nearly making me blackout from the pain, when I was able to 'look' around again, I saw Torchwick holding my blindfold. Breathing in through his teeth, he said,  
"Ohhh, that's gotta hurt, we could heal your eyes you know? But I think it would be more fun to stick some drills in them." I gritted my teeth, searching for anything in the building I could use to brutally murder my tormentor. I found nothing, even the pipes for the toilets were replaced with PVC. I stretched farther, finding a fork in the mess hall two buildings down. I pulled it toward me with all my might, but at that range, I could barely move it.  
"He found something!" Torchwick called, noticing the black outline around me intensify. Immediately, the entire base went on lockdown, the forks and other silver ware were all thrust into a drawer and locked in there. I stopped, and searched underground, looking for some amount of ore I could use. Finding nothing, I stopped,  
"Good, you gave up! Now for the next batch of tests." He said, walking out the door again. Cylinders descended from the roof and started pounding me into the table.

Name: Tyler Last Name: Synphonia  
"You let Milly see the coordinates?" I asked, panicking.  
"I didn't let her, she snuck up on me," Nio said, eyes wide.  
"She's crazy about Epsilon, we have to make sure she's safe." I said, and Hunter nodded. We ran after her, finding her exiting her dorm room, full armor on, a slim, solid, plate metal skirt hung to the back, gold with a black design down it, unhindering forward movement but protecting the backs of her legs, her tail tucked in underneath it, she wore simple shoes, plain. Gold and black shin and arm guards, a tower shield at her side, a short sword hanging at her side, her upper body covered with a metal breastplate, gold based with black whorls and designs at the midsection. Even her ears had armor covering the back of them, the same black and gold design etched into them, the holographic wings Epsilon got her glowed faintly.  
"There you are," She said, noticing us.  
"I told you not to go alone," Nio said,  
"I'm not," she responded slyly, "you three are coming with me." We started walking toward the airships, Nio generated his armor on the way, I grabbed my instruments, and Hunter threw on his jacket and armored pants. Now fully armed we found someone crazy enough to let us skydive, at night, onto an unorthodox landing space, outside of the kingdom. We were above the base, it's spotlights twinkling but not noticing us.  
"See ya next fall!" The crazy pilot cackled and opened the door, walking back to the cockpit to start piloting the plane again. We jumped, Milly first, flipping before leveling out into a perfect dive.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
The cylinders stopped once I started coughing up blood. Torchwick walked into the room.  
"So that's how tough they make you little guys these days, let me tell you, it's a definite disappointment, I probably could've gone another couple hours at the setting. Oh well, you just barely made the charts to be able to get dust charged. Scientists? Do your thing." He said, leaving the room a final time. The drills didn't move, but I felt them injecting something into my bones, melding it with the marrow inside.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio  
We landed, and Milly sprinted towards the nearest building, catching any approaching bullets on her tower shield, she smashed through the door and ran inside. I ran into the nearest group, jumping left and right as my armor downloaded an update. 'At this hour?' I called my gun and jumped over the line of enemies, switching it to full auto and putting three bullets each into their backs, running on to the next group as Tyler started a song. Hunter took out a knife and threw it at an enemy, doing the same with another before drawing the last two and converting them to Deagles while combat rolling to the left. Standing, he shot twice, and two men fell, having to put away a Deagle to summon his shield and roll again as the enemy started spraying and praying. I appeared behind them, converting my gun to a sword, parrying three attacks at once and striking to times faster than thought, taking a glancing hit on my left pauldron as another enemy pulled out a sword behind me. I leaned and kicked him in the chest, jumping back as the enemy in front of me tried to cleave my head in two. I stepped onto the bed of a nearby truck and jumped over him, slashing backwards and grimacing as I made contact. I flipped my sword into it's submachine gun form and fired at the line of enemies in front of me, cutting them down efficiently but grotesquely then switching it back to sword mode. Tyler's song took affect at the same times as my armor update, my neon highlights glowed as I aura channeled into my sword, now taller than I am, it cut through enemies quickly and my armor increased my reaction and neural processing time, I watched as the enemies around me whirled in slow motion, and jumped from one to the next, assassinating them as I went. Tyler's song made me even faster, increasing my awareness to the point of being able to watch a fly's wings beat in slow motion. I spritned forward, and took out the last line of enemies with Hunters help.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
My 'vision' blurred as the pain became extreme, but I still sensed my worst fear. Milly burst into the building and sprinted down the hall toward me, only to get hit in the face with Torchwick's cane which he wielded around the corner like a baseball bat. He then shot her, blasting her out of the building, fortunately, she had gotten her tower shield in front of her before he shot, making the impact dangerous, but not deadly. She fought with him, while the drills withdrew from my bones, my aura kicked intk gear and sealed the wounds. Nano appeared next to me, unstrapping me from the table. He took off the one on my left arm and I pointed at the fight outside.  
"Go," I croaked,"help," he nodded and sprinted out of the room, I chuckled as he drop kicked Torchwick and then I went to work freeing myself. They were simple belts, but in my weakened and cinfused state they were bonds beyond amything I'd ever seen, I got them off one by one, and stumbled out of the room, my aura was healing my internal damage but it would be a while before I could help. I slid down a wall, tripping up a scientist now and then. My aura finished it's work and I looked around, finding my blindfold in a nearby room I grabbed it and looked around they hadn't been able to transport my sword. Inching outside, I watched the war going on. Nano had scavenged a sword from a dead enemy and was now teaming up on Torchwick with Milly. Tyler, Nio, and Hunter fought off droves of cannon fodder. Nio was practically teleporting around, slicing people in fourths with blinding speed and a weightless six foot long energy sword. Tyler kept up a tune that cleared my eye sight and granted me the strength to stand and Hunter was there with an assist or warning whenever Nio faultered. I groaned as a nearby dust tank powered up and started moving. Nano got in close and bashed Torchwick's nose in with the hilt of his sword, then went to disable the tanks as Milly followed after Torchwick who had started sprinting to a carrier. She was stopped by that crazy fire glyph lady, and Torchwick escaped. Milly noticed me and sprinted over, blocking bullet fire with her shield. She kissed me, and Nano appeared next to me.  
"And he calls me his guardian angel," he joked, pointing at her wings before teleporting back to a tank. She pulled back,  
"Don't ever get captured again," she said seriously,  
"Please, everyone wants a piece of Epsilon," I croaked, my voice still messed up from screaming as I was tortured. I sagged as Tyler had to stop playing to create a boundary glyph, blocking a tank shot. They were starting up faster than Nano could disable them, a shell exploded near Hunter and threw him across the compound, he slammed into a building and lay still. Nio fought for a while longer, but was forced to stop wkth three tanks aiming at him. Tyler had to stop the boundary glyph as a result of bullets coming from all directions. I grimaced, and looked at Milly,  
"You'll have to come back for us, you'll find a way, I know you will." I said as I pressed a button on the wings,  
I hugged her,  
"Return home," I whispered as a voice command. Jets appeared on the wings and lifted her off the ground, the biggest feathers detached and followed behind her, blocking any bullets that approached. She flew away, crying, and I watched with hope, closing my eyes as Nano dematerialized. My aura over flowing, I clenched my hands and slammed two tanks together, using their combined weight to crush a third and fourth, then using their metal to create shields around Nio, Hunter, and Tyler. I looked around, saying goodbye, and noticed Nio cutting through his shield, having worked out what hallened and what I was going to do. I ionized the dust in my bones, and drew the metal containers of dust closer to me, ensuring the dust would detonate along with me.


	27. Chapter 27

I 'looked' to the sky one last time, and my arms exploded, detonating the dust aswell, obliterating the compound.

I was on the floor, 'what?' I thought,  
I tried to move my arms, realizing I didn't have any, I sat up, and 'looked' around, the shields were intact, but nothing else was. Nio was still carving a hole in his, and I walked over to him. Working out how I'd survived on the way. He crawled out of the hole, seeing(or not) what happened to my arms, he whistled.  
"How much does that hurt?" He asked, looking around.  
"Not as much as the drills had," I said chuckling. We watched as my arms reformed.  
"That's sick," he said gagging, then walking toward Tyler's shield. My aura was still overflowing and I assumed it was what kept the rest of my from going squish. I followed him as my arms finished reforming, and 'looked' at the tattered remains of my uniform.  
"Isn't this gonna be hard to explain." I said, watching him cut a hole in Tyler's shield after ascertaining that he wasn't gonna cut through Tyler aswell. I deconstructed Hunter's shield and made a stretcher for him from the metal. Tyler looked at me,  
"So what was gonna be a valiant and noble end actually went ahead and simply set off an explosion?" I nodded,  
"I think that display got all the dust outta my system though, and I don't wanna test it, so I'm just gonna wear full combat armor all the time like Nio does." We laughed and looked around, we were stuck outside of a kingdom, with a destroyed perimeter, flattened buildings, and no food. I quickly made a small house using metal from the tanks, and we all sat inside it. I pulled out my scroll and facepalmed when Tyler told me it was out of battery. So, we waited. I built a second and third floor and watched from the roof of the third. Building an S.O.S sign whenever an airship came close. Finally, one noticed it, and landed, picking up a teenager in a tattered beacon uniform, a musician without instruments, mega man, and an unconscious Assassin. We waited inside until he dropped us off in vale, and I promised him to wire him some cash for the dust needed to get us there. We waved goodbye, and trudged to Beacon, everything going better than expected. The sleeves to my uniform were completely destroyed, so I ordered a new one while we were in town.  
"Hey Epsilon, how do you have so much money?" Hunter asked,  
"I can rip gold straight from the ground, how do you think I have so much money." I answered, though that wasn't the reason.  
"Gold isn't magnetic." He pointed out as we got on the airship.  
"I used to do magic tricks, I would bet really high on something and then influence anything nearby to win, happy?" I admitted, I was banned from most nearby Casinos because of it, none had ever figured out, but they lost so much money to me they couldn't afford to have me return. He shrugged, grinning, and we walked into Beacon, I instantly sought out Milly to see if she had made it here. I found her outside Ozpin's room, and sprinted that direction. She was just about to go inside when I caught her. Pulling her away from the door and kissing her, she looked at me for a second, then kissed me back. Goodwitch stopped nearby and I winced, bracing myself for a crack on the head, none came and I shrugged, dipping Milly during the kiss. We resurfaced and I looked at Goodwitch,  
"PDA Epsilon, but it's good to see you unhurt, try to keep yourself that way, and order a new uniform."  
I nodded,  
"Already did Professor." She grinned and aalked into Ozpins office. Milly looked at my uniform, noting with a smile that it was now sleeveless, showing off my chiseled arms.  
"What happened?" She asked,  
"I went a little crazy, apparently ripping off your sleeves gives you increased strength, so I tried it, and it worked,x I joked.  
"That's funny, now what actually happened?" She asked seriously. I explained the regenerative abilities of the Ursai from earlier amd told her that I'd detonated my arms.  
"So you were counting on the ability and your aura to keep you alive?" She asked suspicion creeling into her tone.  
"More like, I saw no other solution and this is a happy accident." I said truthfully, she smacked me,  
"That was for attempting to commit suicide," she then kissed me again,  
"And that was for thinking of me before yourself." She said once she pulled back. I shrugged, and we walked back to the dorm room, my arm around her. I put on my armor as Hunter, Tyler, and Nio walked in, and I tossed my destroyed uniform towards the garbage.  
"Would team HENT report to my office?" Ozpin called over the intercom. We did so, and once we got there, Milly went in first, sure that Ozpin would want to scold her. We followed directly afterward.  
"Oh good, excellent work Ms. Liberty, I hadn't sent you a message telling you not to go, and I'm glad you took the tip-off I sent you, team HENT, thank you for reinforcing Ms. Liberty in the midst of all that Chaos."  
"But sir, you told us not to go." Nio blurted out and we all glared at him.  
"I told You, not to act on those coordinates, You, acted on the fact that Ms. Liberty here was counting on you." Ozpin said, grinning, "Therefore, I can not in good conscience punish you for destroying a major dust charging facility and saving your team mate. That team of hunters and huntresses will be so discouraged, beaten to it by a bunch of students. Oh well, you are dismissed, all except you, Epsilon." He said, and I stopped. They left the room,  
"Glynda," Ozpin said into his scroll, "there is a batch of students loitering outside my door, would you mind?" We waited a moment and heard Prof. Goodwitch shoo away everyone.  
"Epsilon, Oobleck told me about Nano, do you have anything to add to the facts you told him?" He asked, and I nodded,  
"He can also appear if I'm unconscious, but other than that, nothing, I don't use him in vain, and he does his best not to kill people, he's part of the reason why we were able to escape." I repsonded.  
"Thank you for telling me that, I believe this is yours," He said, reaching behind him and taking my sword off a podium.  
"How?" I asked, amazed that he was able to touch it without getting frozen.  
"Us old people have to have some secrets." He said grinning, "dismissed," he said, and I shrugged and walked out the door.

(So yea, some bad parts, but I'd say it's pretty cool, I'm biding my time until the next season, so we may see a couple of these, I should have about 13 days left here in Panama at the time that I submit these, so yea. I portray Ozpin a bit more military like than he is in the web series because one, he doesn't have to be all motivational with second year guys, and two, he seems like a fair person, and fair characters often seem military like in enclosed spaces. So yea, hint* just about no more dust charged grimm after this because Epsilon obliterated that compound, I'll have to find something else for them to fight, oh well, C ya next three chapters hopefully, I want to round these back out into sets of five 'Cuz I have CDO(it's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order(as they should be)) so I'm going to go back to that, REVIEW! PM ME! OCs!)


	28. Chapter 28: The Shaman's Humility

Name: James Known as: Epsilon  
My uniform came the next day, and I put on my old green blindfold, not giving a crap about it not matching, the uniform one was starting to cut me, I brushed me teeth and 'looked' around, stretching my arms, then facepalming when I realized how late I'd woken up again. I sprinted to my first class, making it just as the bell rang, releasing us to our second class. I shrugged, and followed Milly to Ooblecks room, poking her left ear to get her attention, she smiled when she saw me, and we held hands on the way to the next class. Getting inside the room, we took our seats, that class passed by quickly, but Thursday's duel day in physical training. We walked into the locker rooms, I put on my armor and walked back out, and Goodwitch was looking for a pair to start the duels and explain tournament rules to the nubs. She saw me, and she saw Milly, having us duel would be interesting and I shrugged. Stepping up and offering my hand, Milly took it sweetly and joined me next to Goodwitch.  
"Begin," Goodwitch said.  
Milly jumped toward me, her speed beyond that of Nio, and I side stepped, blocking her shield bash with my sword, stopping her completely, she slammed her shield into the ground and spun, sweeping my legs out from under me, standing and pinning me, our faces close together, she grinned,  
"I win,"  
I grinned back,  
"Not that simple," I responded, dropping the entire arena like I had when dueling Orion, I broke her hold mid-air and landed, touching her tower shield with my sword and freezing it mid-air. Normally it would be a simple process of unbuckling the bar around her arm holding the shield in place, but my sword kept her from doing that, and she was pinned by me more effectively than how she pinned me. I removed my sword and she fell to the ground next to me, rolling and coming back up in a crouch. I 'watched' with amusement and parried her sword strike, elbowing her shield behind me, thrusting her neck towards my sword, I froze, and used my semblance to lift my sword above both our heads before that move decapitated my girlfriend. She knocked into me and we both fell, her breast plate hit my face and she hit her head on my left shoulder plate. I squirmed out from under her and grabbed my sword, rubbing my nose. We took up fighting stances again and she again struck first, me leading her back a few steps before parrying a strike and slicing the ground behind me to release it's energy. We fought back and forth for a while and eventually I rushed forward, inside the guard of her shield again and, again, froze, pulling my sword out of the way to tackle her, we stood again.  
"Epsilon, what was that about?" Goodwitch asked.  
"I have reason to believe that such a duel is not a good idea, considering my swords present friend damaging abilities."  
"What does he mean?" One of the nubs asked, and I answered by passing my sword through the floor, cutting a chunk out of it. I smirked as the nubs were amazed, and stopped smiling so much once Milly was whacking me back and forth with her sword and shield, saying sorry whenever she landed a hit. She eventually won, my aura healing any damage afterwards. She apologized for the hundredth time after class,  
"I'm sorry! Prof. Goodwitch wouldn't let us stop so I figured it would be easier if I won!" I shut her up by kissing her, I pulled back and said,  
"I'm not mad, I would rather you win than me bash your face in with the hilt of my sword a couple hundred times." She nodded, and we walked off together to watch the sunset together as we normally did.  
(I wonder what team COAT is up to, eh? Let's go see)

The day of Chapter 22(shopping day, Saturday)  
First Name: Cole Last Name: None  
"So what's the plan, fearless leader?" Teresa cooed from across the table. I looked around, thinking about what the other grouos would be doing with the day off. Hearing nothing great, I shrugged,  
"What would you all enjoy doing?"  
"Weeeelllll," Teresa started.  
"I think it would be a good idea to train, we haven't done that much, so it could be fun." Aries suggested and Orion nodded in agreement. Teresa frowned,  
"I wanted to go shopping," she said, "but I guess I can go afterward or some other time." She relented, and we finished eating and went to the dorm to grab our weapons and armor, I put on my elastic suit clipping it's armor on where needed, it's black color utter and complete, grabbing my staff, I waited for the rest of my team, Aries wrestled himself into his ceramic gold armor and grabbed Volund, it's black handle shining with gold etched into it, once side of it's head arced to a point at the top, it's other side consisted of it's barrels, previously unseen gold etchings covered them as well. Teresa slipped on her indigo hood, a lighter blue setting in designs of smoke, she had an ethereal look about her, as if she could suddenly disappear, she grabbed her bow from the side of her bed, it swirled and turned in her hands. Orion buckled on his many swords, checking their dust chambers and filling the ones that were empty or not full. He displayed the least of himself in the act of getting ready, he wore a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans, swords covering most of him. We walked together to the training rooms, and I pressed the button to summon resistance, I had gotten a picture indicating what buttons did what, and had punched in the code for plain terrain before we entered. Six Boarbatusks were released into the room and we struck the one furthest to the left first, Teresa jumped backwards and strung her bow, notching three arrows, the first and third found their marks in the eyes of to of the boarbatusks, and I made a mental note that she focuses on the periphery more than the primary, Orion tossed three swords ahead of him and activated a momentum reverse glyph, jumping on it and launching toward the furthest boarbatusk to the right, catching a sword and completing a glyph to hold it in place, rolling over it, he stabbed its back, leaning out and catching a sword after he did so, he then jumped off the boarbatusk and pulled out another sword, tossing all three ahead of him, I made a mental note of his planning, executing, and completion phases, he followed a pattern of doing so, his execution phase beginning as soon as he caught the first sword. Aries jetted himself forward with his chain gun hammer, he stopped just in front of the first boarbatusk, leaning ahead and around using his momentum to swing his hammer, the barrels smashed into the mid boarbatusk's left flank, the force of it's blow slamming that boarbatusk into the one next to it, he had used up all his momentum now and pulled the trigger on it, chewing through the boarbatusk he had hit and killing the one next to it as well, the hammer swung around him again and he helped it, stopping the guns once he could potentially hurt a team mate, he missed the final boarbatusk to the left which charged toward me, I sidestepped and Teresa got three arrows in it's flank, one near its hind leg, one in it's stomach, and the third in a chink of armor on it's head. The room cleaned out the bodies as we went over the fight, highlighting things we should work on,  
"How about you actually fight something?" Orion asked begrudgingly.  
"Because I don't care about myself, I care about you guys being better." I answered coolly, knowing that he had already known what I was gonna say. We split up after that, each going our separate ways to practice separate things, Teresa to the archery range and Orion and Aries to the target dummies, I went to the library to check up on fighting techniques and battle formations. Classes went by smoothly, Port had interesting ancestral ties and Oobleck led us on riveting tales of heroics of hunters and huntresses from the past. Oobleck got an effective habit of checking notes, and Aries asked for mine daily.The next saturday that came by, we agreed to finally going shopping as Teresa wanted.

(My poor fingers, Bitten by dogs, lit on fire with gunpowder(it seemed like a good way to celebrate the fourth of july) and potato peeled(you don't wanna know), but probably the most painful part was typing up sixteen chapters this week, Review, this is starting to get old but whatever, I'm asking anyway, filled up OC spots, having forgotten that I was doing seven chapterss this time and you guys didn't even know I needed OCs by now, but whatever, if you really want one in, PM me and I'll see what I can do, as it is, I would like to thank everyone who did submit an OC and actually answered after the initial message(looking at you UnicornBanshee) and a special thanks to a friend known only as Sigma for the excellent submission of Cole, allowing me room to twist that guy anyway I wanted as long as I kept his sick staff, his tribal backstory, and hsi druidic powers. General thanks to the submitters of Teresa, Tyler(who isn't me), and the naming of Orion to a friend named Joshua who will probably never read this. That's it, talk to you guys next chapter.)

(Note* I really wanted to get back to the right amounts for chapters, but I'm just too lazy, I'll get around to it eventually, but until then, I apologize to my fellow OCD patients seven chapters is too much to make my bull crap out at one time, so if you have cool story ideas and want me to get back to normal chapter sets that badly, PM me.)


	29. Chapter 29

(Just kidding, took an extra day and decided to do these chapters, you people remember that guy that brutally murdered two people and stole their bike? Later to be contracted with killing a soon to be beacon student? I didn't forget, so here's that fight scene between them you all've been waiting for)

The wind whipped through my short black hair as I flew over the road toward the destination she was likely to be at, she gave the restaurant five star reviews on RWBYelp, so I had to expect that she went there often. I stopped outside the diner, and looked in through the windows, a single shattered light pole barely managing to light it's parking lot. I turned off the bike and stood, checking my weapons to make sure they were in working order, I inspected her from afar, her long hair obscured her face, but I knew how it looked from the picture I saw on the scroll site, she wore no armor, either very assured of how safe she was here at a broken down but apparently amazing diner, or she was quite insane, no weapons were strapped to her, but she wore cuffs that seemed promising, they being wrist mounted probably meant she was a brawler, 'watch out for the shotguns,' the guy had said, well, there they were, in plain view, nothing to watch out for. I straightened my black shirt under my brown leather jacket, and walked inside, ordering the dish that she had recommended on RWBYelp, she appeared next to me,  
"That's a good order, but you probably already knew that," she said,  
"Yes, and I already know you, now do you wanna mess up your favorite diner? Or do you wanna take this outside?" I asked, she thought for a second, tilting her head and tapping her chin  
"Both," she finally said, grabbing me and judo throwing me through the front window, I flipped mid air and landed, grinning and crunching the broken glass in my mouth to dust. She walked out of the door and watched me spit blood onto the ground next to me,  
"Ooooh, scary," she said and flicked her arms, activating her shotgauntlets. I flicked my wrists, summoning my spiked gauntlet and dagger. She shot the ground behind her with both shotguns, propeling her forward, I took off my sunglasses and cleaned them, sidestepping, and then puting them in a jacket pocket. She ran toward me again and I kicked gravel into her face, lunging forward as I did so. I got in range as she blinked the sand out of her eyes and she barely dodged a punch that would have been the end of her, she crouched at lightning speed and uppercutted my stomach, I punched the ground in anger with my gauntlet as my suspicions were confirmed, my armor struck with shrapnel, I was launched into the air, she waited until I fell back down and punched my side, damaging that armor as well, I rolled for a bit and grinned, activating the explosives on the ground from my gauntlet, she was launched back and I charged forward, she suddenly turned and faced me, attacking with a flurry of shotgun blasts, I barely managed to hit each blast slightly with the hilt of my dagger or the side of my gauntlet, nit managing to plaznt any explosives but diverting the Shotgauntlets from shooting me in the face or stomach. She stepped back for a second, but I jumped forward, slashing at her with the dagger, skimming her leather jacket and cutting part of her hair. She saw the hair fall and went to slam her fists together, but I'd already jumped back and was activating the explosives as she did so, she flew away, slamming into the light pole, finally destroying the light, I blinked and flicked my wolf ears, my vision adjusted, and I saw her charge toward me. I sidestepped and tripped her, my eyes finally having adjusted enough to give me an advantage, that advantage was taken away from me as she slammed her fists together, having rolled when I tripped her and come up standing, she blazed like the sun and looked at me,  
"Ah crap," I said as she lunged toward me, I didn't bother moving, she could now move faster than I could think, I brought my forearms up in front of me as she struck once, an uppercut that launched me into the forest nearby, I lost consciousness as I smashed into a tree and slid down it.  
(So that guy got owned far faster than I thought he would, I thought he might at least make a good chapter, oh well,)  
I woke as I heard someone walk toward me,  
"Sup, blondie?" I asked, coughing blood.  
"Who sent you? Was it Junior?" She asked, getting close.  
"Junior? Nah, a guy that didn't do his homework, he approached me from the shadows, idiot" I said, flicking one of the ears on the top of my head. "Anyway, he has some crazy orange hair, carries a cane without a limp, and wears a stupid fedora all the time."  
She picked me up, holding me by my collar,  
"Why shouldn't I end you?"  
"First, yer too soft, second, I'm unarmed, third, those weapons I left behind when you punched the black off me will detonate once my heart stops, and with THAT much fire dust near your friends and precious restaurant, even I wouldn't call my bluff."  
She nodded,  
"Got any loot?" She said hopefully,  
"What is this? World of Warcraft? Unless you want the clothes off my back, all I've got is this whiny motorcycle." I said, tossing her the keys, 'won by battle, lost by battle' I thought, she looked at them,  
"It won't explode once I turn it on will it?" She asked,  
"No, but your sister probably will when she gets to beacon," I answered, trying to scare her. She looked at me for a second, then slammed me against the tree,  
"Don't go anywhere near my sister." She said, her hair nearly igniting again,  
"You got it hotshot," I said shrugging, "Also, if you plan to go after the guy who sent me after you, how 'bout you check out this girl first? She set up the scrollsite with your ID and picture," I said, sending her a picture.  
"How will I find her?" She questioned,  
"Ask Junior, he always knows more than he tells," I said shrugging,  
"You've gotten very compliant," she said suspiciously,  
"You are carrying a one-hundred and forty pound man who has another eighty pounds of armor on and shrapnel from your shotguns in his chest, with one arm, what am I gonna do? Lie to you? Besides, I gotta kinda code of honor, you beat the everliving hell outta me? I help you out," I countered. She shrugged,  
"Thanks," she said walking away, I activated my aura and healed my wounds, spitting out some shrapnel from the shotguns. I then stood and limped back toward the diner, I grabbed my weapons, put them away, and limped back to my seat. A waitress came by and put the plate of food I ordered in front of me. I shrugged, ate, paid, and left, having had enough of this bounty hunter crap, I was gonna find this Torchwick guy, and pound his face in for lying to me.

(Wait, nevermind, this actually panned out pretty okay, I'll call it a chapter for now, OCs, PM me, REVIEW)  
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	30. Chapter 30: The Work of The Shaman

Current, Friday night after chapter 27  
Name:Cole Last Name: None  
I walked down the halls, one who shared my curse was nearby, I turned a corner and saw her, she had been so afraid, now, she wasn't, apparently something had to trigger her the out breaks, some extreme emotional trauma would definitely cause it to happen again, she apparently couldn't understand how important she was to get it under control, she walked into a room, and I observed as another person turned a corner, everything about the way he moved screamed musician, his hands could barely stop moving, dancing to a tune only he could hear, his legs were well toned, he played often, and when he did play, he played passionately, most likely adding to the songs he played with movement, his left hand was alphadextrous, as shown when he opened a door, his fingers were well tuned, apart enough to play most small intruments and spaced out enough to create low amounts of friction when sliding down the neck of a Cello or Double Bass. He stepped into the room, and my ears picked up arguing, yelling, two of the five people in the room were siblings, the tones of their voices matching closely, close enough that they might seem like twins, although of opposite gender, the girl ran crying out of the room, covering her face with her hands, she ran past me as I stepped out of the way, and the boy from earlier stepped out and after her, a blue pendant hanging in his grasp, he started going after her, but I widened my stance, stepping in his way, he tried to get around me, but I spun my staff, knocking him on the head softly,  
"Now is not the time unanimous musician," I said solemnly,"You have tried to change the fate of your twin, and through doing so, accelerated it," I stepped around the corner, still holding him back, but allowing him to see that the girl had run into a boy wearing a blue hood, neon highlights running down it. She cried against his chest, and he comforted her awkwardly, but it was the best he could do, and she appreciated it. The musician struggled more against me, I spun my staff, thwacking him twice more on the head, pushing him back around the corner with the tip.  
"Quit that, it hurts," he said, still trying to get around me,  
"Of course it did, but now it's in the past, so was my generousity in the softness of my blows, this links to your predicament, you can accept this, learn from it, or you can let it hurt you more, and gain nothing from it. Her heart is his, it has been for quite a while, but a lazy mailkeeper has, lost it in the mail, so to speak."  
"Does anything you say make sense?" He asked, fury still in his eyes, I rolled my eyes and whirled my staff thrice, touching his knee, his shoulder, and the top of his head, he crumpled, unconscious, but I caught him, and carried him over my shoulder, I walked around the corner, toward the crying girl and the awkward, synthesized, one.  
"Where is your dorm room, blue one?" I asked, looking the guy in the hood straight in the eyes, he pointed, and I carried the musician there. I entered the room,  
"Blind seer," I acknowledged,  
"Shaman," He responded, and I walked over to a bed, climbing it's ladder and placing the musician in it, grabbing the pendant from his hand and turning toward the blind seer, gesturing to it's broken chain.  
"Mend this, blind seer," I pleaded, he nodded, and the chain reformed together again,  
"Today you have saved two relationships and reinforced another, thank you, blind seer." I said respectfully, then walked back to where the crying girl had been, finding the blue paladin alone,  
"Ah yes, I had nearly forgotten," I said, and gestured at him to follow me.  
"Sh-she, turned into a beowulf and sprinted away?!" He stuttered as we walked, and I nodded,  
"You may want to remove your jacket, the one whose heart belongs to you will be short on clothes later this night," I said, hiding the pendant from his sight. We got outside, where a beowulf was howling to the moon. She turned toward us, and the blue paladin fumbled for his weapon and armor around his jacket that he'd taken off and held on his arm, I walked forward calmly, and held out the pendant, allowing my aura to channel through it saying,  
"Through this, show who you love, and which path you will take, harnessing this, using it, or suppressing it, letting it fade away," I said, then put it around her neck, stepping back afterwards, it flowed between the violet of my aura and the blue of his, it settled on the blue, and I smiled, walking up to her again and twirling my staff, I touched one spot, the place above her heart, my staff glowed for a moment with the pale silver of her aura, and the beowulf crumpled, I stepped back and twirled my staff once more, hearing a solid thock as I made contact with the back of the blue paladins head, pushing him forward as the musician walked from the building in time to see the blue paladin cover his naked sister with his eyes closed as he did so. I faded into the background, my work done.

(So this guy is always in the right place at the right time, putting my weird conjunctive writing abilities to the test with this chapter, cuz guess what? I plan literally none of any of my stories, sure I influence them to try to keep explicit content out of them, but otherwise, these things do it on their own. Continuing with the next day)

"YAAAY! SHOPPING!" Teresa exclaimed early saturday morning, we all woke at the sound, climbing out of our beds and getting ready, I had taken no money from my tribe, but would enjoy looking around. We went to the airships, Teresa mellowing out as we got close to them. We waited as the ship went down, and eventually stepped off of it into the town, and Teresa went to shop after shop, only buying a single dress 'incase she ever needed it' we walked through town, Aries grabbed some munitions, and Orion added a new gold engraved dagger to his collection. We walked through town until night but finally Teresa turned toward me and said,  
"How long is it gonna take you to find something?!"  
I looked at her for a moment,  
"I wasn't looking for anything." I said simply, they all sighed in frustration,  
"Then let's just leave already! Why did we waste all day with this?" Orion said angrily. We went back to the airships and flew home, I apologizing for wasting everyone's time.  
We got to our dorm room and got ready for bed just in time for lights out, a few minutes afterward, someone shifted in there bed, and I assumed it was Aries needing to use the bathroom or something, but I froze when I felt Teresa throw her arms around me,  
"It didn't feel like you wasted our time, you really seemed happy for a few moments, I hope I, we, can get you to feel that way more often." She whispered, and then climbed back into her bed. I stayed that way frozen for a few more moments, going to sleep, that night, I dreamed that Larissa hadn't died, that she'd been the one wandering through town with me, I woke the next morning with a set feeling of happiness in my heart, not because I had sweet dreams, but because some one now seemed to care about my happiness.

(So yea, an entire Cole chapter, sweet, he's to the other guys what Epsilon is to the main characters of RWBY if you hadn't noticed, Review, PM me, OCs)  
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	31. Chapter 31

'Every living being is balanced by light and dark, which I'm sure you know, but it is important to know that too much light can blind you, while too much dark can make it hard to see,'  
-Maria

Monday next week.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

"You Ok?" Milly asked, looking at me,  
"Yea, I'm fine," I answered, fiddling with my sword,  
"Not many people can just shrug off getting tortured, remember what I said about keeping your emotions bottled up?" She asked, concerned,  
"Yea yea, it's bad, I' m sure I'm fine, thanks," I grumbled, eating a pancake. She stared at me, and I ignored her, walking to my class, forgetting I had that in common with her, she watched me all through history, and all through Grimm classification and anatomy, in physical training, she still didn't stop, and after class she followed me, entertwining her fingers in mine, we walked outside to the cliff, where we usually watched the sunset,  
"I think you need some therapy or something, you've been unusually quite," she commented, it's true that I'd barely said a word all day, but it was only because I couldn't think of a reason for why I'd been ready to sacrifice my own life for someone else, something in me had changed, and where I once cared only for myself, saving myself by reflex instead of saving my original team, I now valued others above myself. I 'looked' at Milly, she was beautiful, and yet, I don't think that's what had changed me, something else had, something that hadn't been there before,  
'A choice,' something said in the back of my mind,  
'You had none before, it was either let them die, and live, or die all together, I influenced your choice, I am the intincts, but something has separated us, splitting our existence, was it thiss girl? Did sshe cause our separation and your sstupidity? I think sso, and because of thiss, she is a danger to me, to uss,' It said, drawing my sword with my hand, it pointed it at her,  
'No! Don't! She's not why I nearly sacrificed myself!' I thought frantically, it lowered my sword, sweeping aside my attempts to fight it,  
'Prove it,' it responded, 'Tell her you don't love her, and I won't sslay her,' it put me back in control, and I faced her,  
"Go," I said, and she looked at me quizzically, "Leave, I… I don't love you." The thing emanated agreement and satisfaction, she started crying,  
"Why? Which reason do you have for doing this?" She asked, tears streaming from her face,  
I turned away from her, anguish painting my features,  
"There doesn't have to be one, leave me." I said, and it nearly laughed in amusement as she ran away crying, Nano appeared next to me, and I looked at him, he shook his head, and grabbed my sword, disappearing, it going with him. I sat, watching the sunset alone,  
'Excellent, we will soon be one once again,' it told me, and I responded,  
'I hate you,'  
It emanated happiness,  
'All I needed to hear,'  
I blacked out, and when I woke, a shadow form of me jumped off the cliff, my anger disappearing along with it. I stood, happy for no reason, and Nano appeared next to me, hauling back and socking me in the face,  
"WHAT! IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He yelled, holding me up by my collar, and I shrugged, still giddy,  
"Where's Milly? I got some 'splaining to do Lucy," I said,  
"No really, what the hell is going on with you?" He asked, dropping me, I shrugged again, and a sense of urgenccy filled my confused mind, I sprinted after her, enjoying the breeze through my hair as I went.  
I slid around a corner, seeing her running down the hall way crying, I sprinted ahead, happiness at catching her fueling me. She heard me coming, and I ran faster, she turned toward me, I grabbed her, kissing her, her lips were salty with tears, and her eyes were puffy, but I didn't care, I ran one of my hands though her hair, loving everything about her, she looked at me like I was insane, but her eyes glazed over as I squeezed one of her ears, that had allways made my pet dog look really happy, and I'd been wondering if it would do the same to her, but never thought to ask, I pressed her body against mine, getting as close to her as possible, we finished the kiss, and I looked into her eyes,  
"I love you," I managed, and started trying to kiss her again before Nano appeared behind me and lifted me off her by my collar, her eyes returned to normal, and she stood, pointing at me,  
"What's wrong with him?" She asked,  
"You act like you didn't like it," I said, still struggling to get toward her, and she blushed  
"I don't know, he might be going a little crazy from attempting to sacrifice himself," Nano interrupted,  
"You know bro, you were always my favorite," I babbled, and they started dragging me through the halls, we passed my team room, and I pointed at it,  
"Taxi driver! That was my stop!" I called,  
"But not ours," Nano answered, we stopped at another room, and an Archer answered the door, her swirly hood drawing my feeble concentration as I followed one of the swirls. They walked inti the room, Nano still dragging me,  
"Blind seer, you have been greatly afflicted," The Shaman said, "what has been done to him?" He asked to my Taxi dragger.  
"We're not sure, I stared at him all day, and after classes he was really quiet and solemn, then, we went outside and he drew his sword and pointed it at me, but he lowered it and told me he didn't love me, a little later he sprints up to me and kisses me, telling me he loves me, and he's been weird like this since before he kissed me but after he said he didn't love me." Milly explained,  
"Ah, I've seen this once before, has he recently made a decision for others contrary to immediate decisions he made in the past?" He said, and Nano answered,  
"Yea, he reflexively saved himself as I died, but then went ahead and tried to sacrifice himself for his new team." Nano said,  
"Understood, where's his other half?" He questioned still.  
"Other half?"  
"Yes, surely you saw some form of him leave the scene,"  
"I was running away crying, and Nano hadn't appeared yet," Milly said, "he was alone for a couple seconds."  
A memory clicked in place,  
"OH! You mean that guy who jumped off the cliff! Yea that guy was kind of a douche bag," I said, and Nano let me go, I jumped on Milly, kissing her again,  
"We must go get him before we can unite his two halves and fix him, Milly, keep him occupied," The Shaman said, leading Nano out of the room, she could only moan as I kissed her deeply.

Name: Cole Last Name: None

"So Epsilon is acting pretty weird," Nano commented as we left the room,  
"Yes, he seems to have been split down an intellectual middle as well, his inhibitions destroyed or nonexistent, I just hope that faunas girl doesn't let him go too far," I responded as the rest of my team joined us, I raised my eyebrows at Teresa,  
"We figured you guys might be able to use our help, besides, Epsilon and that girl started getting a little french if you know what I mean," she explained, and I nodded. We got out of the building, and went down the cliff. We found him pulling a sword from the ground near an armored corpse, he faced us, and Teresa shot the sword out of his hand as Aries hefted his less accurate weapon, the silhouette raised its hands, clearly outmatched, Teresa produced a rope and we tied him up and carried him back to beacon.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

"You know, your hair is really soft," I said, massaging the top of her head,  
"Mhm, oh, a little to the left, right there, aaawww," She said as I rubbed and scratched the bases of her ears. She looked up at me,  
"You might wanna stop doing that, otherwise, I might be tempted to keep you like this permanently," She said playfully, but I took it literally,  
"Fine, I'd rather stay like this, I feel, so much better, it's like all my life I've had a kind of weight on my back, and now, it just diappeared, is that strange?" I questioned, and she shrugged,  
"Everyone has at least a little baggage, but you've had to bear more than most, it might be a mercy to keep you this way," she pondered, and I continued massaging her head, eventually, they managed to climb the cliff with the kicking and bucking shadow form, and I glared at him with hate,  
"Why'd you bring that into the school?" I asked with malice,  
"It is the only way to fix you, once your two halves unite, you should be back to normal,"  
"What if I don't want to be 'back to normal' what if I enjoy being so happy all the time?" I asked,  
"Then you would have to leave Beacon, natural strength can only get you so far," The shaman said, the shadow form of me thrown over his shoulder, his swimsuit thing looking out of place along with his staff.  
"What do you mean natural strength?" I questioned,  
"I mean, you can't activate your aura while split in half this way, try to do so, because I know you won't believe me, heal that bruise on your cheek." He said, gesturing at where Nano had punched me, I tried, but nothing happened, and I looked at the shaman in confusion,  
"We are beings of both light and dark, the light and dark separate means that your aura, your soul, is not functioning correctly, if you stay this way for any period of time, your dark half would effectively become a grimm and your light half, you, would become more like a normal person, no aura, no semblance," he said,  
"So why is Nano still around?" I asked, pointing at him,  
"Nano materialized from you much earlier today, I have since been feeding him with small amounts of my aura, if you don't go back to normal, Nano will fade permanently," he answered, and I thought for a few moments, but he said,  
"Make your decision quickly blind seer, for every moment you spend in jubilance and euphoria, this half is experiencing the pain and torture from your past," He said, and that did it, if I had to sacrifice myself for someone else, it was what I was meant to do, I nodded, and we stood, The shaman placing my dark half on the ground, and he looked up Milly's unifrom with a smile on his face for a moment before she kicked him, immediately, I felt a kick to my side, and faultered, she pulled back to kick him again, but I held her back,  
"It looks like whatever hurts him hurts me ,sugarplum, we may want to save the kicking until only one of us can feel the pain," I said, holding my side,  
"Sorry!" She said, rubbing my side, they closed the door, and untied the dark half, he glared at me, and I at him, but we stood next to each other, Milly clinging to my shoulder,  
"You may want to step back," The Shaman said, whirling his staff,  
"Why?" She asked, and he shrugged, moving forward,  
"It is none of my business if you want your personality melded with that of Epsilon," He said, and she yelped and jumped back, he stopped suddenly, touching the center of my forehead, and a pale green light flowed through the veins of his staff, settling and swirling in a small nook near him, he whirled his staff again, touching the foregead of my dark side, a murky green flowed through his staff, and settled in the same nook as mine, turning it to a deep emerald green, he touched my right ear, and my dark half's left one, he then walked forward, leaning his staff against a bed, it now empty, and pushed me toward him while pushing him toward me, we stumbled, mirror images of each other, into one.

"Ouch," I said, sitting on a bed, Milly sitting next to me,  
"Yes, having two sets of memories can be, painful, but don't worry, that headache should go away in a couple hours, develop memories as one mind, and that should make it much faster." The Shaman said,  
"I know the memory you might wanna make," Milly said, looking into my eyes, and I remembered Nano, I stood suddenly, and ran out of the room, finding him leaning on the wall, his eyes shining violet,  
"Hey bro, you back to normal?" He asked, and I nodded, shaking his hand, as I did so, channeling my emerald green aura into him, his eyes turned green again, and he stepped away from the wall, stretching,  
"Being fueled by someone other than you is weird, different thoughts randomnly float through my mind, it's kinda annoying," I nodded, and put my blindfold on, he faded, and I walked back into the room, everyone looking at me funny,  
"What?" I asked,  
"You sure you're back to normal? You still seem a bit, brighter than average," Milly commented, and I shrugged,  
"I feel fine,"  
"Yes, that's Epsilon, his original aura color means that his true self is there, in one piece." He said, and Hunter burst into the room,  
"Haveyou guys seen Epsilon?! oh nevermind, but what's wrong with him?" He asked, and I looked at him,  
"What?"  
"You seem, brighter," Hunter said,  
"I've been told," I grumbled, and felt a punch in the stomach, I kneeled onto one knee, and 'looking' behind me, I 'saw' my shape, occupying the space behind me, the shade said,  
"Well, it looks like you found a shaman to unite us, but the problem remains that you hate me, meaning we can't completely unite, as a result, I, am going to go find someone who will accept me," it looked around the room,  
"Promising minds in this room, but taking one of them right now would be trivial, Shaman, your thoughts are insufferably pure, so don't worry about it, everyone else, I'll be checking in at some point." It grinned, and dissipated,  
"Crap," Cole said, surprising us all with that little bit of profanity, "that did not go as planned, now that feeling is going to spread like a virus, either taking over people one by one for control, or taking over many people at once to create a general feeling of whatever it is, what, is it by the way?" He questioned,  
"Survival instincts itself apparently," I said, standing, and 'looking' around, "hey, how come I can still use my semblance?"  
"Not all of you is split in half, you aren't balanced, but apparently your soul is okay with a little imbalance, balancing it," Cole answered,  
"What?"  
"You lost some darkness, balance is correct, balance is light, your soul itself enjoys imbalance, which is bad, dark, as a result, you lost something for it to immediately be filled by unforeseen circumstance, so you should be fine, but now the rest of everyone else will have to deal with imbalances caused by that thing testing to see if it fits within their balance, excpet me apparently," He explained,  
"So we just watch out for ourselves being terrible and selfish and we're okay?"  
"No, that would tell it that it has a place within your balance, merging it pretty much permanently with you, what you have to do, is be afflicted adversely by it's presence, then you should fail it's test and it should leave you," He explained further,  
"So what happens if we find it? Can we kill it?" Hunter asked, and Cole shook his head,  
"Repel it from yourself and eventually it should find someone with too much light, and it should balance them." He said,  
"So someone we may or may not know is going to potentially become a worse person because of what just happened?"  
"Correct,"  
"Crap,"  
"Precisely, until it does find someone with too much light, just be normal," Cole said, and we shrugged and left.

(So now the evil bug is going around, who'll be afflicted first? This should be interesting for character personality tweakage, which I need to practice, having done so with only Epsilon this chapter, OC characters will be afflicted unless you specifically message me that they are not to be afflicted, so yea, I'll PM you guys before this to check,  
PM me questions, Review, OC characters please, for this story and others, PM me for info, couple extra notes, either my previews are lying to me, or my callsigns are being cut off from the stories, whatever, I will fix the spacing crap cuz it's driving me in-freaking-sane, so look forward to a more professional look and hopefully a couple less slip ups)  
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	32. Chapter 32: The Shade's Presence

"So, what's it like having two memories at once?" Milly asked as I walked her to her room,  
"It's really weird, I remember standing next to you with a silhouette of me on the ground, but at the same time I remember looking up and seeing-" I said before Milly slapped me,  
"Don't remember that!" She said, glaring at me. I rubbed my cheek,  
"Fine, fine, I also remember running through the forest a bit looking for a sword but at the same time I remember kissing you, it's really painful to think about that whenever I wanna remember me kissing you like that, so how about one right now?" I asked, grinning, she closed her eyes, still walking,  
"Only if you can surprise m-" she started, as I walked ahead and caught her, kissing her,  
"There, that surprising enough?" I asked and she grinned, saying,  
"Definitely,"  
I said good night and started heading back to my room, getting there, a chill ran down my spine as I walked through the door, I looked around, and everything was normal, Tyler and Nio were playing a video game, Hunter was sharpening his knives, all the beds were in place, and no shade was present in the room, as it was, I remained alert, in case the shade was testing someone in the room, I walked over to Tyler and Nio, they were multiplaying Portal 2, something you couldn't be worried about yourself for, so I watched them for a while, they completed the tests quickly and efficiently, each doing their best to solve them, and I looked at Hunter, sharpening your knives could seem a bit self serving, but Hunter had heard The Shaman's warning, and if he was being tested, he would know what to do, I shrugged as Tyler and Nio finished the last test, Nio stood, saying,  
"So I'm gonna go see Julia, see you all around."  
Tyler hummed, but nodded, saying,  
"Tell her I said hi,"  
Both me and Hunter looked at him like he was crazy,  
"Did something happen that we didn't know about?" I asked,  
"Yea, yesterday I came to terms with the fact that my friend is dating my sister, with the help of a shaman of course," Tyler said, nonchalantly, turning off the XBOX and starting up steam on his computer, getting Warframe running as soon as Nio left. Me and Hunter just stared at him,  
"Wha-?" I asked, "since when is he matchmaker?"  
"Not him, that pendant around Julia's neck, and I think he's a wizard cuz Julia hasn't 'turned' since yesterday." He said ominously,  
"Turned?" I asked,  
"Yea, that Shaman is actually more like a druid, weird huh? Anyway, he was bitten by one of those dust charged Beowulves like Julia was, and ever since has been able to change form, Julia only ever did a beowulf, but he can do Ursai and Boarbatusks, apparently he once tried to do a Nevermore but it was gonna break his suit, so he stopped. But yea, he kinda enchanted a pendant to show who Julia loves by aura color, like a mood ring, except for only one mood, and it's real time for who she like likes at that moment, for example, I don't make it change color at all because I'm family, but either Nio or Cole may be the love of her life at any one moment, it's always Nio though, so yea, when she has it on her curse is suppressed, so that's nice,"  
"What?" I asked, mind blown, Tyler grumbled something about hard of hearing team mates and went back to playing warframe. I shrugged, and climbed into bed, 'closing my eyes' and trying to deal with the events of the day.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio

Julia met me outside her room(CUZ YOU GUYS STILL HAVEN'T SENT ME OCS), and we talked for a while, and she randomnly stepped back, and Cardin and his idiot friends slammed into me and threw me to the ground,  
"Sorry! Midget!" Cardin called, running down the hallway after his team,  
"How 'bout a little warning next time eh?" I asked Julia, and she looked at me funny,  
"I was gonna say something, but didn't, apparently, weird," she said, still looking at me funny,  
"So, you do anything lately?" I asked, searching for a conversation,  
"Yea, my team mates thought it would be cool to train today after classes, so that was nice," She said, and a crash sounded from in the room,  
"Uhhh, you wanna go see if they're okay?" I asked, pointing at the door, she shrugged,  
"I'm sure they're fine,"  
"HELP!" Someone called from in the room,  
"Uhhhh," I said, and she stared at me,  
"Not my problem, what've you guys been up to?" She asked, changing the subject,  
"Uh, not that much of anything, you feeling OK? I could swear you were more compassionate before this." I said, dragging the subject back, still pointing at the door,  
"OH GOD THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD!" Came from the room,  
"You sure they're okay?" I asked,  
"They're big practical jokers, I'll probably walk in there to see a little scratch on their arms, besides, if it's not a practical joke and there really is danger, I could get hurt, no sir, not for me." She said, shaking her head,  
"SOMEONE PLEASE CALL A DOCTOR!" Someone yelled in the room,  
"And waste my scroll minutes? I only have so many of those you know," Julia called over her shoulder towards the door,  
"So, I'm just gonna go, when you're more likely to save me from a broken arm then shoot me dead to put me out of pain I'll come back, talk to you later," I said, and started walking away, wondering what was going on when Hunter came on over my scroll,  
"HEYIFORGOTTOTELLYOUBUTWEACCIDENTLYRELEASEDEPSILON'SRESPONSETOSAVEHIMSELFBEFOREOTHERSANDITMIGHTGOAROUNDTESTINGPEOPLEFORASUITABLESPOTINEXISTENCE!" He said at light speed, and I facepalmed, turning back around the corner to see Julia get punched in the stomach by an invisible fist, then standing, and sprinting into her room while simultaneously calling a doctor. I started running over to help, but someone in the room screamed,  
"OH THANK GOD YER HERE! IF ANYONE ELSE CAME INSIDE I'M SURE I WOULD'VE DIED OF A HEART ATTACK!" I continued walking that way while a doctor appeared and guarded the door,  
"I am a doctor and can indeed confirm that that will happen if anyone else walks into this room. Please go back to your room." I stared at the doctor for a few moments,  
"Please tell me this is a joke," I said,  
"In no way, post traumatic shock is coupled when combined with an aura with a chance to literally shock yourself to death if something unexpected happens. I repeat, please go back to your room." He told me, then turned to the door,  
"OKAY! I'M COMING IN SLOWLY! AND BY SLOWLY I MEAN STEPPING SLOWLY OR AT A MODERATELY SLOW PACE!" He yelled, and I walked away, shaking my head.  
(This is the stupidity that follows me not having characters, I really was joking about them appearing during the tournament, so really, please, send me OCs, otherwise, I'm gonna make some characters up as I go along and it won't be pretty)

Skipping through the school days to saturday.

Name: Cole Last Name: None

"The shade has been missing for a while, so how about some training?" I suggested, and they looked at me glumly,  
"It's boaring killing the same number of Boarbatusks over and over again," Teresa said, lounging on her bed,  
"Then let's do some team duels," I countered, and they perked up,  
"Sure, it's always interesting to test ourselves against each other," Orion said, more agreeable than normal, but most likely as a result of me suggesting something he agreed to. We walked to the training rooms, and I set the room for standard terrain, we chose who we wanted to fight against, and Aries and I walked over to the stands, Teresa and Orion walking onto the gravel field, Orion regarded Teresa carefully, taking everything into account, he drew five swords and stood ready, Teresa looked through her quiver of arrows and pulled out three, she strung her bow and notched all three arrows at once, by unspoken consent, they began. Orion lunged forward, beginning to juggle his swords, he tossed three forward and Teresa shot them from the air simultaneously, he tossed the other two swords and rolled forward, catching two of the first three swords and jumping toward Teresa as she calmly unstrung her bow and drew her mini Axe things(If you play warframe, think miniature Dual Zorens) they clashed, Teresa blocking by placing her axes in a cross formation while Orion attacked downward with two swords, she blocked the hit and then moved with his remaining momentum, leading one of his swords into the ground with an axe and swiping at his neck with the other, he let go of the sword stuck in the ground and caught a sword as she attacked, bracing the flat of the blade against his shoulder, the sword flew out of his hand and away, but he cartwheeled right with the momentum and grabbed the third sword of the three that teresa had shot out of the air, he rolled foward, toward her and began a vicious form, attacking ferociously, Teresa blocked sometimes, but often diverted the swords into the ground with the sides of the axes, she then went on the attack, flowing through forms she had mastered long ago, she attacked sweeping both axes to her left, knocking a sword from Orion's left hand, while he let go of the sword in his left hand to grab the one in his right with two hands, granting it more power, he slashed diagonally downward to his right as Teresa dodged to his left, crouching and turning, sweeping with a leg, a blow that should've knocked his feet out from under him, but his feet were steady, and more weight than made sense was on him, he slashed at her and she blocked, sliding away as a result of the impact, she stood and dodged to her right as Orion threw a sword directly at her. She appeared to the left of him, stringing her bow, as Orion completed a glyph, covering half the duel area in molten gravel, she grinned, and he drew another two swords, standing defensively, he planned to block her arrows with said swords, other than his glyphs, he had no long range attacks, and she kept an eye on him as she checked her quiver, withdrawing a length wise striped arrow, she placed it on her string, and eyeing Orion, drew it back slightly and aimed up, a slow but powerful arrow apparently. She launched it, and it flew in the sweetest of arcs, and once it started falling down towards Orion, she unstrung her bow and ran forward, pressing a button on her bow and putting it onto a hook on her quiver she raced forward at light speed, I looked at him to see that he was blocking a hail of arrows as they hit him, the first arrow had split into fourths, then sixteenths, then thirty secondths, and now Teresa was jumping over the moat of molten gravel to fight with him in the four foot radius of none molten ground around him that he had created, she struck down, and he blocked down, he attacked over hand, and she sidestepped and snuck into his guard, her face close to his for a Nanosecond before she kneed him in the stomach and turned, kicking him in the chest and knocking him out of the duel area. He grumbled, picking up his swords and completing an ice glyph with some difficulty to cool the dueling arena, Teresa collected her arrows and they sat next to each other, chatting about what happened in the duel, Aries and I stepped into the duel arena, and he hefted Volund, warming it's barrels, I spun my staff and roared as I changed into a beowulf,  
"A beowulf? Seriously? You couldn't think of a better form? I'm gonna chew right through you ya'know?" He called, and I nodded, we began, him shooting at me with all 18 barrels. I rolled to the left and jumped over and to the right, weaving toward him, I got close, spinning my staff and knocking his gun to the side, then slashing at his head with my left paw, he dodged backwards slightly, his golden armor gleaming as he converted Volund to hammer form behind him, I jumped back and he slammed the ground where I had previously been, the duel area shuddered, and he lifted Volund out of the small crater it had made, he braced it on his shoulder, between his neck and where his shoulder pauldron, and ran towards me, a slow but steady charge at his enemy, I whirled my staff, channeling my aura into it as he approached, I touched his shoulder and neck, and his arm went limp, ending the channel, I flipped backward and dropped my staff, then lunging toward him, with only his left hand, he flipped Volund off his shoulder and turned, smacking me on the side hard enough to launch me a couple feet, I then realized my mistake, Aries was left handed. He charged forward faster than before, turning, and flipping Volund verrically around him to pound the gravel I'd been on to dust, I'd managed to roll away, and ran at my staff full tilt, on all fours, he ran after me, I grabbed my staff and rolled, changing back to human and whirling my staff, converting into an Ursa, he attacked anyway, his right arm still limp, turning and bearing Volund's full forward momentum into my side, I blocked, and then struck at his head, he crouched and rolled backward, and I lunged ahead, swiping at his left side with a paw, I made contact, and his arnor shredded under my claws, stopped by his still fully intact aura. He was thrown side ways, and rolled in that direction, I looked at my paw, ribbons of his armor disintegrating from between my claws, as his armor repaired itself, he warmed Volund's barrels again and spun arcing the side without barrels towards me while increasing the speed of the spin by shooting, the bullets pinged off my garment, but I stood back, a hit like that with the sharp head of Volund could cause serious damage, what he did next surprised me, he threw Volund at me, it still spinning at mach speeds, I managed to dodge it's head, but its handle slammed my back, I fell forward, then ran toward him through the pain, noticing too late that his hand was enveloped by a black outline(What? Epsilon isn't the only guy allowed to have that semblance) I ducked as the hammer flew back to his hand. He caught it's handle and turned, flipping it so that I would be struck with the barrels. I woke a few hours later, even with my aura he had slammed through it and knocked me out cold,  
"I'M SO SORRY! IT WAS IN THHE HEAT OF THE MOMENT! ARE YOU OKAY?!" He yelled, and I rubbed my head, spinning my staff as I returned to human form,  
"Yea, I'm fine," I answered, looking up and smiling with a missing tooth.

(So yea,(that's how I'm gonna start these from now on, forever) DON'T MESS WITH ARIES, that guy will fuck up your shit, Teresa's intense, but I feel like if there was a bigger area to fight in Orion most likely would've won, if I had to describe him in two words they would be 'Tenacious Lunatic' but yea, Teresa's technique worked surprisingly well in close quarters when I simulated it, so that's cool, and I don't mean, "simulated it with my imagination," I actually went ahead for you guys and inputted her forms and the circumstances into a computer to do it for me, Note* a cat bit me earlier, and guess where? On my hand, on the Tendon for my thumb, so it hurts to type, but I'm doing it anyway, your welcome, Review, PM me, OCs,)

(Extra Note* Cole's channeling is completely different from Nio's channeling, he can only use it for pin point attacks, it doesn't make his staff stronger or anything, Nio's channeling makes his weapon larger(though still without weight) and grants him near lightspeed agility in a pinch, just making sure you guys know, since even I don't know the extent of either's Aura ability/semblance, bottom line, Cole: Enchant Nio: Increased physical Prowess. Hence why Cole is able to channel his aura into whatever he wants, including people, while Nio only does so to Saphire Cutter and only to it in it's sword form, That is NOT Cole's semblance(If so, what is his semblance? Interesting, I will address that next chapter), anyone can aura channel as he does if they know how to, but they learn it second year at beacon, hence why Epsilon was able to aura channel to Nano in an earlier chapter, I just felt like that needed an explaination)


	33. Chapter 33

Same Day,

Name: N/A Known as: Nio

I walked back to the room, having just met Julia again and had been happy to see that she and her team mates were fine, I walked into the room, Tyler practicing a song, Epsilon de- and re- assembling one of Hunter's Beagles, trying to figure out why it wasn't working, and Hunter was sharpening his sleeve sword. I climbed into my bed, and stared at the ceiling bored out of my mind, eventually, Epsilon figured out that Hunter had sharpened the beagle too much and added some mass to the blade, warning him about what would happen if he did it again. He then went to go see Milly, and I jumped out of my bed and decided to wander around the school, a random faunas boy walked by, a monkey tail trailing behind him, and I shrugged, though some memory he had reminded me of twinged in the back of my head, and I looked at him again, realizing he was the guy with the gunchucks, I thought about running up to him and asking him how they worked, but I decided against it. He walked away, and I walked on, seeing Epsilon and Milly walking down a hallway, holding hands, their romance was nice, and I felt happy for them, but sometimes it just got to be too much, so I walked on, heading outside and into the emerald forest, hoping something would attack so that I would have something to do, none did, and I eventually came upon the corpse of a nevermore, recently, and brutally, murdered, explosions having blasted it's skull open, some one had detonated explosives after some how planting them in an eye socket of the beast, a death not even grimm should have to face, we fought them because we had to, we were forced to, whoever had kilked this one had sought it out, begged it to attack, and I realized how hippocritically I was thinking, didn't I walk into the forest to do just this? I heard a noise behind me, and activated my armor, switching into infrared views and seeing two bright lights shine out of the shadows, they were at eye level, and the body behind it wasn't hunched over or straining to stand straight enough to meet me at eye level, it stared at me, then walked off, wolf ears twitching.

(Hmmm, Our 'lone wolf' mercenary so close to the school? Why would he be anywhere near if he was hunting Torchwick? unless)

A carrier fired it's jets behind me, and I watched as the Nevermore corpse disappeared, replaced by the carrier, there hadn't actually been a dead nevermore, it had been holo projected from the ship as Camouflage,  
"Well if it's not one of those kids who attacked our compound, we don't need you kids anymore, so I can actually take the joy of killing you," Torchwicks voice sounded from the carrier, and I heard an explosion behind me. Looking up, I saw the guy from earlier launch out of the trees and land on the carrier, punching and slashing verything nearby before jumping and back flipping out of the carrier, he landed next to me, and detonated the ship, it exploded, and a speaker landed nearby repeating what Torchwickhad said over and over again. He growled and kicked the speaker away, then looking at me,  
"I have no want to fight beacon students, but if you attack, I will defend myself, and take half the forest with us if you do manage to kill me, I've been hunting Torchwick, and he figured out, and is now setting up these decoys for me to wast time with, however, he will run out of Carriers, and I will find him," He said, starting to walk away. I said nothing, and walked back to school, wondering what was going on.

Name: Cole Last Name: None

"What do you mean, 'what's a semblance?'" Teresa asked, "Just that, what is a semblance? I don't have one,"  
"Well surely you do, they taught us that a long time ago," "I didn'tt go to the same schools as you, as a result, my education is fairly lacking," I responded,  
"Okay then, a semblance is a lot like a focus, a kind of specialization, mine makes my agility increase beyond comparison, Orion has Glyphs powered by dust in his swords, and Aries uses his semblance polarity quite rarely, but you've seen the results when he does use it, there are assorted other Semblances, bjut ours are some of the more generic ones, they tested us with each, but that would be hard to do with you, so pick one you like and let's try it," She explained, and I shrugged,  
"I don't know all of them, so how could I possible make a choice, it's like asking a child what religion he wants to follow when he knows of only one,"  
"Okay, so try this instead, close your eyes, and focus, try to do something, but don't do any of the things you've done before," she said, and I focused as she told me to, closing my eyes at the same time, nothing happened, and we stood there for a while, eventually, I gave up, and opened my eyes,  
"Nothing," I said, and she frowned,  
"That should've worked, it normally does, do it again, but try moving around," She said, and I did so, finding that I was unable to move, to open my eyes, I could only think, I stopped and opened my eyes, looking at her and shrugging again,  
"I can't move at all while doing it," I said, and she nodded,  
"Do it, but keep your eyes open this time, I think I know what yours is,"  
I did so, and watched everything around me freeze, I couldn't move, but I could see, and I could think, I noticed with alarm that my strength was flagging, I would've sagged, but I was frozen in place, I stopped, and fell to one knee, breathing heavily, I looked up and saw her offering her hand, I took it, and stood, leaning on my staff heavily as she nodded,  
"Your semblance is alot like mine, but whereas I speed up my body, you speed up your mind, I'm guessing that while you were doing it you couldn't move but you could think?" She said and I nodded,  
"You are only able to do it three times a day, and the more you practice with it, the longer you should be able to do it, I don't know the correct name for it, but let's just call it thought speed," I nodded again, thrilled, but unable to speak,  
'I've been here not even a full year, and look how much I've learned,' I stumbled back to the room, greatly weakened by our doings, I touched my head to the pillow and fell asleep instantly.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

(Floating around a bit today eh? That's cuz we skipped a full week and now have to go around and catch up)  
"How are you doing in your classes?" Milly asked, and I shrugged,  
"They're not hard, and I can just record them on my scroll now if I need to study them, so yea, I'm doing pretty okay, but you should know that, considering we pretty much always have the same classes." I said, putting my arm around her as we dangled our feet over the edge of the cliff, sitting next to each other,  
"You see anyone else get affected by the shade?" She asked,  
"Nah, apparently Julia was afflicted, but other than that, it hasn't shown in anyone, why?"  
"I felt a chill earlier, and didn't see anyone else get affected, so I was afraid it was me." She said, rubbing her shoulder,  
"Hmm, I don't think it was, but if you're fighting it, remember not to, it'll just tell the shade that it has a place within you," I said, looking at her, she nodded, and we cuddled for a while as the sun set, afterwards, we walked inside, and both stepped out of the way of a boy carrying an unconscious girl to the infirmary, she appeared beautiful, but needing to be carried to the infirmary lowered my opinion of her, I pulled Milly closer to me, my left arm around her and my hand on her waist, we walked peacefully, and I noticed Cardin around the corner, stopping her, I asked her to wait there.  
"Hello Cardin, how's your day going?" I asked, turning the corner to see him telling some random girl about two people that had been locked in a closet together, he turned to me,  
"Hello, James, how' s your daddie doing?" He asked, putting emphasis on the fact that he knew my real name and that he knew of my fanily troubles,  
"I'm not sure, it's been quite a while since my 'dad' orphaned me as a baby to a smith, who burned out my eyes, but check out this sweet sword he gave me," I answered unexpectedly, drawing my sword and holding it up to his neck. The girl ran around a corner, and Cardin got out his mace, attempting to knock my sword away before realizing what my sword could do,  
"Oops," I said, and smacked his mace away, poking his chest plate with the tip of my sword,  
"Has your brother tried to kill you yet?" He asked, and I bared my teeth and stepped closer to him as Milly walked around the corner, he saw his chest and punched my arm, knocking the sword out of my hand, straight toward Julia who had stepped out from behind Milly. I 'watched' in slow motion, trying to use my semblance in time to stop the sword, but Cardin punched me in the back, breaking my focus, and the sword continued flying toward Julia, I sobbed as Milly stepped in it's way, trying to catch the sword, it passed straight through her hand, and continued through her neck. My 'sight' dimmed, as I closed my eyes when Nano appeared, picking up Cardin and slamming him into a nearby wall, throwing him across the hall and leaping the same distance, landing on his chest, and beginning to punch him anywhere he could reach, he stepped back and lifted him by his chestplate with his left hand, punching him repetitively with his right, then turning and smashing him into the ground, getting ready to punch him again as I looked up and saw Milly completely fine, staring at her hands in wonder, the sword had clattered to the ground behind both of them, but they were fine, in my confusion, I let Nano fade, but it didn't matter, him having beaten the snot out of Cardin, I 'looked' at the sword, wondering what had happened.  
"How?" I asked, and she shrugged,  
"It didn't even hurt, it just kinda passed right through me," She said, and I noticed the shade on the floor behind her, I brought the sword to me, and poked the shade, it winced in pain, it's neck resealing together, it melted into the floor, and I looked at Milly, who was wriggling her fingers, afraid of what might happen, I held both sides of her head and lifted, thankfully, her neck hadn't been severed,  
"We gotta talk to Ozpin," I said, walking in the direction of his office,  
"Did I just die?!" Julia called behind us,  
"I don't know, do you feel, dead?" I asked, doing my impression of Davy Jones over my shoulder and running ahead, Milly at my side, we knocked on his door,  
"Come in," resounded from inside. We did so,  
"Sir, my sword is weird," I said,  
"What happened?" He asked,  
"There was an accident, and it would've beheaded Milly, but instead just passed straight through her," I said, and he nodded,  
"Yes, that would be because she has a soul, an interesting part of your sword is that it can't hurt humans. Which is good for Ms. Liberty, but bad for you if you find need to kill someone,"  
"I won't find need for that," I said, shrugging, and he grinned,  
"The best way to make god laugh is to tell him your plans for tomorrow, but anyway, other parts of the sword should be told to you before you go swinging it through walls, first, is that it will block all incoming strikes, but if you attack, it will slice straight through something until it uses up it's energy, second, someone who has already touched the sword and been frozen by it directly can afterward wield the sword with impunity, but only if you allowed them to have the sword in the first place, third, which you gifured out today, it cannot hurt anyone with a soul, fourth, and final, it can ondly absorb so much kinetic energy before it requires release,"  
"Okay,"  
"Excellent, you may go," He said, and we left,  
"So what does all that mean?" Milly asked,  
"I have to watch out for people without souls, wait, we forgot about Cardin didn't we?" I said, and sprinted back to the hall where we had been, finding Cardin still on the floor,  
"Sorry! Nano thought you killed someone!" Milly said, and I lifted him by his armor and slammed him into a wall, Milly looked at me crazy,  
"Why'd you do that?!" She yelled,  
"That day when Goodwitch had us duel, he was one of those kids in the crowd, he saw me use the sword, he knew as much as we did about it, and he prevented me from saving you, without knowing that the sword couldn't hurt you, he effectively tried to kill you, and was stopped only by his own ignorance," I responded, anger in my voice, I dragged him down the wall toward us,  
"Don't you ever, try to mess with me, or us, again, or I swear, by my own hand, the void shall consume thee(Warframe Reference), and your idiot friends." He nodded, and I touched his forehead, healing all the bruises Nano caused, then dropping him to the floor, and walking away, not noticing the look on Julia's face around the corner. Milly looked at me, worried, but I took her hand and led her outside, Nano appearing behind us to guard the cliff, I took off my blindfold, and hugged her, crying into her shoulder. Cardin's taunts hadn't gotten to me before, but now I felt them hit me, my own brother, no matter how much he said he wouldn't knew exactly how best to kill me, might find it upon himself to do so because of how I treated others, and if I had been watching what I'd just done, and had the ability to end the suffering of others by ending the life of the person doing it, I would've done it. She held onto me,  
"It's not your fault," She whispered in my ear, and I looked at her, my eyes hardening, the tears evaporating from my face as I collected myself, I nodded, and hugged her again, closing my eyes and letting Nano fade, I started reaching up to put on my blidnfold, but she stopped me, saying,  
"No, I want to see them," She said, and I, slowly, managed to step back enough to reveal my weakness, my strength, the windows to my soul had been shattered, and now anyone could reach into me and change my heart, and break or steal something, this was the depth of this gesture, only ever my father had seen my bruned eyes without my blindfold before, when he made them this way, and the day he gave me the sword strapped on my back, now, she had seen them as well, I had shown her my Achilles heel, my glass bones, and I expected pain, pain like getting kicked in the back of the foot, pain like my bones shattering, but she surprised me, she touched my eyes, she reached into my soul, and added something, she gave me a gift, I had expected her to be revolted, my burned eyes weren't disgusting or infected, but they had been damaged greatly, and anyone who saw them recoiled at the pain I had felt, she looked at me, she saw into my thoughts, and she decided she loved me, and I knew that without some matchmaker amulet to shine a spotlight on that, she kissed me, pressing her face against mine, and I ran my fingers half familiarly through her hair, we broke the embrace, and I put on my blindfold, knowing that it was no longer there for her, it was the equivalent of shattering windows, and placing sandbags in the way, then removing them for someone to get inside, to be shielded from the flood, and then replacing the sandbags, that person would still be inside, they would still be protected, but they would stay in there with you, so too(does that belong there? Come to me grammar Nazis) in this way, was Milly now protected forever in my heart.

(So yea, Deep ending to the chapter to me, but weirdly not as deep as him meeting his guardian, Cardin got beaten up, they learned more about the sword, uhh, yea, not much going on, thinking about having a ball or dance type thing go on, but I might just throw up, that cat was mildly at best kept care of, I'm starting to feel a little sick, but worry not, that cat has gotten me before, and I did get sick, but I've been taking the vitamin B-13 so at least my hair won't go away soon, what else, I'm gonna submit the other two chapters along with this and take a break, I'll probably have a good amount of girls in both Milly's and Julia's teams, so if you have a female OC to submit, tell me about those, otherwise, I will make them myself, and I'm a guy, so that'lk be awkward, ummmmmmmmmm yea, that's it, Review, PM me, If it's a mod or admin or protocol removing the random symbols I choose for stories, I'm cool with it, but I'd like some kind of heads up, that way, I'll stop, and we can just continue on with our lives, less work for both of us, if the preview is lying to me, and you do see the symbols, ignore this)  
-¶


	34. Chapter 34: The Death of a Loved One

The Next Day

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A

I walked through town, all my team mates except Teresa had wanted to sleep in, and she had gone to talk with her friends about an upcoming dance, I figured I wouldn't go, dancing not being my thing. With Volund strapped to my back in chain gun form, not many people wanted to talk to me, and I was used to it, intimidation was one of the best ways to stay alone, and I was excellent at it, the problem was that I being excellent at keeping others away, I had always only wanted a friend, Teresa was too jittery, Orion too short tempered for my jokes, and Cole knew everything, which was rather annoying, so, even within my team, I found myself friendless, we had been training, and I'd been the one to take it too far, they held back from each other, I watched Teresa fiddle through her arrows instead of going straight to an explosive one to simply knock him into his own fire, Cole had been pulling his punches and guarding his attacks, even waiting as my armor reformed the only time he hit me, Orion held nothing back, but that guy was insane, and often let his anger get the better of him, I, went full out, and even knocked out the team leader with my strength. My gold thread shirt couldn't protect me from the monsters within. So I walked through town, debating whether I should just leave Volund behind in turret mode, but I knew it would get touched by someone, and that someone would have their shit fucked up, so I carried it with me, and eventually found myself in a bar, I could technically drink, my scroll granting me access to all attractions, pretty much anywhere, but I just grabbed a Soda and sat alone on a stool, near the wall, I facepalmed as someone grabbed my shoulder,  
"Nice shirt kid, and nice lost poster on the wall over there for a pretty hefty reward," a huge man said behind me. I stood,  
"Alright, you caught me, I always try running away from home when I feel lonely, so won't it be fun to finally get back," I said, thinking he was joking about the wanted poster, choking on my words as I saw a picture of me on a Lost poster, posted by Combat Ready CO. I looked at the man, sizing him up.

We stood in the street, broken glass surrounding us, Volund was over my shoulder and the guy was out cold on the ground, a gentle tap with my hammer was all it took, but I started running when I heard the sound of my sister's voice behind me, I ran up the side of a building, grabbing onto a window sill and running on, grabbing another window and flipping myself onto the top of the building, she looked at me, her orange hair swaying in the breeze, her bangs barely covering her eyes, I strapped Volund to my back and ran, she jumped straight up onto the building and followed me, determination in her eyes. I leapt to the left, rolling into a street and weaving through the crowd, I jumped over a dust stand and wall ran out of the crowd, landing back on the ground, I drew Volund and swung it, tossing it into the sky, I would be able to retrieve it later, I then sprinted, my sister catching up. I turned a corner, and continued running, weaving left and right, over carts and under balconies, my sister ran beside on top of the buildings, I had always been better at parkour, but she could always beat me at a straight up foot race, so I dove into a random shop, nearly crashing into the smith tools around me, I ran through the store, swung around a tree in the backyard, and jumped landing on top of the building, then running the other direction. My sister followed, and I held out my hand, retrieving Volund as it fell, still running, I turned and jumped, throwing it at her, she got out ten swords and blocked, them following behind her, her green eyes flashing with reinforced determination. I retrieved Volund once again and prepared to throw it, but she jumped to me and tackled me, we fell behind the buildings, smaching through some trees, and she looked at me, tears in her eyes,  
"Why did you leave! Why did you force them to rely on me?!" She screamed at me, and I looked down,  
"They ask me to do everything, I'm sick of it, come back, come and help, I need you, we need you, I'm so alone," she said, stepping off me,  
"I can't, I have a life, outside of them, you have to pull through Penny, I know you can do it,"  
"I don't know if I can, they keep me so isolated, I wasn't even supposed to come out today, I'm going to be in trouble when I get back, unless you come with me, they'll be overjoyed that I brought you back, they might even let us out more," She said, tears shining in her eyes, I wanted to go with her, to ease her pain, but something wouldn't let me.  
"I'm sorry Penny, I can't go back," I said, wielding Volund. She sniffed, and pulled a couple of her swords towards her, but couldn't, they dropped when they neared her, she had cared for me, she had taken the blame when it had been my fault, she could barely ever raise her voice against me, laying a hand on me went against everything in her personality, we stood there, and eventually her tracker started beeping on her swords, I had ripped mine out of Volund, and they had give her more numerous weapons so that she couldn't do the same. I stepped away, and she waved good bye, before I left, I ran up and hugged her,  
"I know you can do it, you're stronger than me, you always were," I said, and we parted, I running back to beacon, she, collecting her swords and walking into the street where they could find her.

The Morning of that day.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

I woke up and 'looked' around, 'seeing' again that I'd slept in alot, I started getting up, but saw that Milly was in my bed, her arms wrapped around me. I was completely confused, Milly hadn't gotten in bed with me, but I mentally shrugged snuggling into her embrace, she woke a bit later, and looked at me lovingly for a few moments before getting alarmed,  
"Where am I?" She asked,  
"In my bed,"  
"Why?"  
"That's the question I would ask you,"  
"I didn't climb into your bed, I would've remembered," she said, and started removing the blankets before realizing that she was less than up to uniform code, I jumped out of the bed, and she wrapped herself in the blanket, blushing. I 'looked' around for her clothes, and found them in her room, on her bed, as if she'd just up and teleported straight from her bed to mine, leaving her clothes behind,  
"Uhhh," I wondered, and she said,  
"Quickly go get my clothes before anyone else comes in," She said, and covered herself in my blanket. I grabbed a backpack, and walked to her room, her team mates had already left, to go do something or other, and I walked in and found her normal clothes, imagining that she wouldn't want to walk back to her room to get dressed for the day, I stepped out of the room, almost walking into Goodwitch,  
"Hello Epsilon, that's not your room." She said, suspicious,  
"Milly wanted me to pick up some clothes for her, she doesn't like her current ones and doesn't want to be seen in them," I said truthfully, and she nodded, I ran back to my room, seeing Hunter walk inside, I walked in quietly after him as he started poking the lumps in my blanket,  
"Dude, wake up, it's like four in the afternoon," He said, still poking Milly, I tapped his shoulder,  
"Hey bro," He said, looking at me then going back to poking her. He stopped, doing a double take,  
"You're there, so who's in your bed?" He asked, and I showed him the contents of my back pack,  
"Oh," he said and walked backwards out of the room.  
"Milly, I've got the clothes, you can come out now!" I said as I closed the door,  
"Go outside and leave the backpack in here," she said back,  
"I'm blind, if you hadn't noticed," I responded,  
"But the way you se-"  
"Can see through clothes anyway, if I was perverted I would have taken a look a long time ago," I said,  
"It would make me feel better," she tried, and I shrugged, locking the door behind and leaving the backpack behind, we stood on the left and right of the door, Hunter looked at me,  
"So you can see through clothes huh?"  
"Shut up."  
"Okay, you can come in!" Milly said,  
"I locked the door, you are gonna have to open it." I called back, and she sheepishly unlocked and opened the door, her jeans and plain shirt showing of her hourglass form, Hunter whistled and Nano appeared next to him, punching him in the face.  
"Sorry!" I said,  
"It's fine," he responded, rubbing his jaw,  
"This shirt is too tight," Milly said once we stepped into the room, it hugging her body to the point of almost being skin tight,  
"Looks fine from over here," Hunter said, climbing his bed and Nano appeared in the air next to him, punching him in the face again.  
"Can't you make him stop doing that?" He asked, using his aura to heal the black eye he was getting,  
"Maybe," I said, shrugging, and followed Milly back to her room, waiting outside as she changed her shirt, Goodwitch walked by as she came out of her room, her shirt better fitting,  
"Glad to see you brought hsr actual clothes, Epsilon, and not like a bikini or something." She said, barely looking up from her tablet. She walked away and I facepalmed,  
"That's totally what I should've done, Hunter might need more than just his aura to heal him if this happens again," I said, and she slapped my chest playfully, then asked,  
"What's this I hear about being able to 'see' through clothes?"  
I blushed,  
"Have you ever done it to me?" She asked,  
"Once," I admitted, "and by accident," I added quickly, she grinned,  
"Glad to see that you always try to tell the truth," She said,  
"How'd you know I was telling the truth?" I asked,  
"Your ear twitches," She responded,  
"It does not," I said, touching my ear and feeling it twitch,  
"How'd you know that's my tell, when did I lie to you enough for you to find out?" I asked,  
"Back when we were on the cliff and you kept telling me you were fine," she answered. "You like what you see that 'once'?" she asked, teasing me, I blushed,  
"You're the devil, a beautiful, lovely, devil." I said and she laughed. A melodious sound filled with joy, we walked around her room for a bit, wondering how she'd been teleported into my bed.  
"Milly, I've kinda been wondering, what's you semblance?" I asked as we went,  
"Speed, I can go faster than you can think, why?" She asked,  
"I was thinking it could be aura overcharge, you know? When you don't use your activated aura for a long time and it reacts?"  
She nodded,  
"Maybe someone else did it, because I don't see you moving fast enough to leave your clothes behind," I finished, and she shuddered,  
"I wouldn't like to think of someone undressing me and moving me while I slept, that's weird." She said, and I nodded, then shrugged,  
"It it's meant to be known, let it be, I just know I enjoyed this time with you, and nobody got hurt, so it's okay," I said, and she grinned,  
"How fatalistic of you,"  
"Quite, I have known since a young age that one day I would wake up in bed next to a beautiful woman, but never thought fate would make it come so early," I said with my best Prof. Port impression, as Ozpin walked around the corner and looked at me,  
"I don't even want to know," He said, having heard my previous statement. I shrugged, and agreed, wrapping my arm around Milly and continuing outside. Stopped by someone I've never seen before, who walked past us, stopping to say hi to Milly and look at me funny,  
"Hey Mako!" She said, jubilant. He kept walking,  
"Who was that?" I asked, he had been almost as tall as I was and was fair skinned.  
"Team mate," She said, shrugging, but still smiling at his saying hi. She noticed my look, and said,  
"Don't be silly, we're on the same team, I haven't dated him," She said, and I relaxed,  
"That guy's intimidating, why were you so happy when he said hi?"  
"He doesn't talk alot, so anytime he says anything is thrilling." She said, and I looked at her for a while, shrugging and continuing walking.  
"I bet I could take him," I eventually said, and Milly shrugged,  
"He's stronger than most of these first years you've been fighting against and with." She said, doubting me. I 'looked' at her, and started walking back to challenge him. She held me back and laughed,  
"Don't be a big bad guy, if you feel threatened by him don't be, I love you, not him,"  
"I'm not threatened by him," I said as my ear flicked up and down.  
"Come on, let's just go outside, I thought you were more than this," she said, still laughing, andnI stopped, grinning,  
"Okay, okay," I said, and we continued outside, me tracking his movements throughout the school.

(So yea, uhh, a thanks to Dust-redeemer for Epsilon's soon to be person-he-feels-threatened-by(Epsilon never forgets) Note* Mako's personality and semblance have been transcritped into this story, the characters in my story don't often have contact with the main characters, so the Blake X Mako romance is not in here, though we may see hints of it, check out Dust-Redeemers story, it's a pretty good read, but other than that, alternate existences, he does not have his prostgetic limbs and such if you've already read Dust-Redeemers story (I have recomended his story but it is YOUR job to decide how old you are and what you read, check his rating first, don't bother me about your idiot kid reading something he shouldn't've) and thanks to the three submitters of other OCs which I will introduce accordingly, and other stuff, blah,blah,blah, Review, PM me, OCs(One spot left))  
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	35. Chapter 35

"You sure you won't let me fight him?" I asked, and she nodded,  
"I'll be mad,"  
I grumbled as we got to her room, I started to walk inside with her, but she said,  
"I'd rather introduce you to them one by one,"  
"Blargh," I responded, walking away, but said over my shoulder,  
"I'm starting to think you don't even have a team!"  
She shrugged, and walked into the room. Saying hi to them. I walked away, wondering about them, I could sense them, so I knew for a fact she had a team, but not being in the room meant I couldn't clearly see their features, though one was obviously this 'Mako' guy, and the other was more obviously Milly, I could only identify that one of the two I didn't recognize was female, while the other was male. I walked to our room, seething because I couldn't identify them. I stepped inside and walked to my bed, wondering what else might happen today, Tyler finally found all the pieces to Loki Prime, but other than that, not much happened. I eventually manged to fall into fitful, competition filled, dreams.

The Next Day, Tuesday

"Good morning students, I would like to announce a girl's choice dance," Goodwitch said over the intercom, and a few tables down, Teresa squealed, and started talking excitedly with the girls at her table. I shuddered, glad I was already taken, and looked at Milly,  
"I think I know your choice," I said, and she laughed, kissing me on the cheek, Teresa walked over and eyed me for a moment, but Milly kissed me deeply, marking her territory, and Teresa pouted, she sat, and looked at the rest of the people at the table. Aries, who had been sitting nearby, slid out of his chair and out the door, pulled by a hook that had latched onto the back of his gold shirt.  
"Remember me!" He yelled as he disappeared. A second later, we heard giggles as girls crowded him, asking him to go with them to the dance. I shuddered again, thankful for Milly's protecting embrace and predatory growls as girls looked at me a bit too closely,  
"Is it just me, or is it a problem that somehow girls get into this school more often than boys?" Tyler said, a boundary glyph glowing around him.  
"Fine with me!" Hunter said, getting dragged away. Nio looked sullen, and Julia ran up to him, hugging him and squeeing. I shuddered a third time, and Milly felt my forehead,  
"You feeling cold? Something's not right," she said, and I pulled out my sword, noticing what was wrong. I swung my sword behind us, passing through most of the people, and standing as it made contact with the shade behind us, I struck at it, but it melted into the floor, and all I did was cleave a slash in the ground. I grimaced, and looked back to see who had been possessed, but whoever it had been had disappeared, swept away by the tide of girls looking for dates. Cole walked up,  
"Did I just see as I thought I saw?" He asked, pointing at the ground where the shade had been, I nodded, and he motioned to check the sword. I hesitated, but gave it to him, ready to pull it away if he froze. He didn't, which struck me as odd, and said,  
"There is great pain melded into this sword, stolen many times, and then it has new pain of a lost loved one, fear is etched into it's hilt, this is a truly dark sword, I beg you to not use it often, you may come out more damaged than your opponent."  
I nodded, and put it in it's sheath.  
"If ever you want me to, I can try to cleanse it, but I sense that it has extreme meaning to you," He added, and spun his staff, clearing the space behind him and walked away, Teresa asked Tyler to the dance and he shrugged, Orion emanated cold anger, and not many people asked him, and he said yes to the first girl who asked. Aries warmed up his chain gun in the hallway, and I started heading that way, ready to make sure no one got hurt. On the way, I saw Mako, and thought for a moment about challenging him against Milly's wishes, but decided against it, and found Aries sprinting outside, Volund attached to his back, he got to the edge of the cliff, and looked down, then at the screaming tide of girls rushing toward him, Milly appeared next to me,  
"Wow, I mean, Aries is hot, but not that hot," She said as he dove off the cliff, followed by huntresses with their prey just out of sight. I 'looked' at Milly,  
"What? He is, but I still like you better," She said, "Something's a little, off about him, his chiseled abs too perfect, his pectorals and gold wardrobe a bit too flashy, his brown eyes a little too deep, his black, long, hair, a little too soft." She added, her eyes glazing over as she daydreamed. I waved my hand in front of her face, poked her in the stomach, and called Nano above her head to snap her out of it, but she just kept gazing into the horizon. I sent out my 'sight', finding Aries and using an ore deposit under him to launch him out of the forest, back toward us, Nano caught him and held him by the back of his collar in front of Milly, punching him in the face every now and then. She didn't respond, and I picked her up and walked back into Beacon, her stupid grin not fading. I found Cole,  
"Hey, there's something wrong with my girlfriend," I said, placing her in front of him, he nodded,  
"I've seen this before, I believe it is known as, lost in thought? Anyway, there's a simple way to stop it," He said, stepping in front of her a few steps back and yawning. She did so as well, snapping out of it.  
"Thanks, Druid!" I called after him, and he nodded, walking away. Milly looked around in alarm, then saw me and relaxed,  
"Let's get to class," she said, and we did so. Oobleck glad to see at least two of his students getting to class on time that day. As we left after class, Nano appeared, still holding onto Aries and punching him every now and then. I told him he could stop, and he dropped Aries, somehow, no bruises had formed on him. I walked on, never having tnought to inspect him, but now did, and choked on the thought of what he actually was,  
"You-you're," I managed, and he nodded, pleading in broken sign language not to tell anyone. I nodded, and we left. A new secret accumulated in my thoughts.  
We got to Port's class, and sat, most of the girls finally accumulating back in classes now that the frenzy was over, Ryan sat next to me, and nodded, not saying anything. The class passed without incident, and I changed into my armor on the way to physical training, leaving behind my sword and grabbing two of the metal rods from my new backpack, the first having gotten broken on the building a while ago. I looked at them, I'd been thinking of making a sword and shield, but decided against it, then thinking of making two swords, but decided against that as well, one by one, I thought through all the generic designs for weapons and decided against them. Milly walked up, seeing me having trouble, I asked for a suggestion, and she shrugged, walking away, her shield immense, and I got an idea.

(So yea, Aries is, indeed, and android like penny, and if that is a spoiler to you, why, are you reading a RWBY fanfic? Then how did he bleed when gored by the Boarbatusk? You ask, simple, he is made to look human in case he does get hurt. His semblance isn't exactly like Epsilon's because he is a robot and doesn't have a soul, he has, however, magnetized Volund so he can retrieve it, this also explains his sick self repairing armor, so that's cool, he is bad at dancing, so that should be fun to watch, but him being an android I wouldn't put it past him to download some dance moves, but I don't know, so whatever, what will Epsilon's new weapons be? Might he just go for a straight up tower shield inspired by his girlfriend? Or will it get a bit, Epsilon-ey? Find out next set of chapters, cuz I enjoy torturing you all, ironic though, at the speed I'm coming up with these chapters, I might submit ten this time, I've been in a bit of a slump lately, apparently, so let's see how these go, eh?)  
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	36. Chapter 36: The Shields, and The Visit

I walked over to my sparring partner, he'd gotten the better of me the last couple practice matches, but I didn't hold it against him, he knew how I attacked, how I fought, but I'd been holding back, afraid of what my sword could do, remove the fear, and no one could match me. My shields sliced through the air with finality as I approached, each was half of an oval and six feet long, nearly as tall as I was, the curve was away from me, meaning I couldn't interlock them as a shield, but having them be able to do so was awkward and unorthodox, I crouched, and he attacked first, slashing at my right side with both swords, I blocked, and stabbed at his midsection, my reach much greater than his, he turned, and the blow glanced off his armor, diverting my left shield away and pulling my right shield forward, I followed through with the movement, slashing at his head, his aura activated as it hit, and he fell backwards. Him jumping up, we reset, and I lunged towards him, blocking with my left shield and slashing forward with my right, he dodged the right shield and I jumped forward, shield bashing, he stepped back, and spun his swords vertically, then attacked, I went on the defensive, crouching under horizontal attacks and diverting vertical ones away from me with my shields, he steadily warmed up, and our battle raged, he jumped off a wall and struck downward, using his semblance(spacial distortion lunge) to get in close, attacking before he completely left the spacial distortion, magnifying the impact of the blow, I fell to my knees, and then stood as he recoiled away from my shields, his spacial distortion trick was cool, but he was forced back to the location he lunged from within seconds, so he was now back in mid-air, and I jumped, slashing at his neck with both shields in a scissor like attack. We stopped sparring after that, shaking hands, and I went to go work out the muscles that hurt, I walked to a bench press and set around 70 lbs. on, beginning to lift it up and down in sets of fifty, working for fat loss instead of bulging muscles, anything I couldn't lift with my hands could at least be shifted by my semblance, I had to worry about the swift, ferocious, attacks my new weapons now required, which meant I required lean muscles in places that hadn't required them before, I had always been more all around fighting, but now that I'd chosen a weapon, needed to tailor myself toward that specific weapon in order to use it more effectively, that said, I couldn't resist messing with the jocks as they taunted me, leaning on top of the bar as I lifted it up and down seemed fun to them, and they got the idea of steadily adding more weights to mine. I didn't mind, picking up the slack with my semblance meant I could do the same amount of work while they had there fun. As they added up to around eighty extra pounds, they got impressed as I kept going, they then started adding more and more to see how much I could do, one of them spotting me in case they added too much,  
'At least they're considerate,' I thought as they added greater and greater amounts of weights, I just kept going, soon, two of them were spotting me because just one wouldn't be able to lift the amount of weight, and I decided to start looking kind of strained, I did so, and they stopped adding weights, incredibly impressed that I was pretty constantly benching around 350 extra pounds (adding to that the 70 he started with and guess what you've got, that's right, 420) without dying, I set down the barbell, and the benchpress' metal started to sag, unable to lift the weight. Their jaws dropped, and they started removing the weights, I, grabbing my towel and walking to the showers, grinning at their disbelief.

(I would LOVE to have Epsilon and Mako fight but, of course, the story fucking HATES that idea, namely because Mako is a very chill guy and Epsilon loves Milly too much to risk their relationship. Crap)

I walked over to my locker, and encountered a problem, my shields wouldn't fit inside separated as they were. I 'looked' at them, and grabbed another rod from my pack, placing my shields on the bench, I then made them collapsable, the tip drawing toward me done by gravity, and placed a lock mechanism on each so they wouldn't come out at the worst times, so now I placed them in my locker, and walked to our room, 'seeing' Hunter read a letter from his bed with fear etched on his face, I walked over,  
"What's up?" I asked,  
"Dad believes I'm not doing my best to get you killed, and he's coming over to finish the job." He said, his eyes wide,  
"Okay," I said, shrugging and walking over to my bed,  
"You don't understand, I could kill you in a couple minutes, my dad is able to step on your neck as he walks in the door,  
"How 'bout I just stop his heart for a bit on his way in the door? Let's see how easily he can kill me without Oxygen to his brain eh? Curtesy of my guardian of course," I said, implying Nano's father who gave me the sword.  
"I kinda, told him, about the sword." Hunter responded sheepishly,  
"You did WHAT?" I asked,  
"He found out that I'd been in the hospital for a few hours and I told him it was an accident with a custom sword." Hunter said, and I responded, sighing,  
"Okay, that's okay, he still doesn't know everything about the sword, so that's good, when's he coming?" I asked,  
"Day after tomorrow, he's using the 'I'm concerned for my son because he was in the hospital' excuse to come, but whatever," Hunter said, shrugging.

Two Days Later, Morning, (Skipping right to the action)

Milly and I were walking through the halls, I, vigilant for a fatherly assassin, when I got an audio message from Hunter saying that his dad had just boarded an airship and was on the way, I walked with my arm around Milly to the front door, and she asked,  
"So why do you want to see Hunter's father so bad?"  
"I want to see what I'm up against,"  
"Hmm?"  
"Remember that guy I killed as a baby? My oldest brother?"  
"Yea,"  
"Hunter's the fourth oldest of us, my oldest brother dead accidently by my hands, Hunter told me we had a brother older than both of us, me, then Hunter is my younger brother, and daddie is still a bit mad about me killing his eldest son." I explained,  
"Wow, your family is messed up."  
"Yep, anyway, Hunter was trained by his dad to kill me, but Hunter decided he didn't want to kill me, so now dad is on the way to do the job under the pretense that he is worried about Hunter."  
"Okay, so I'll just keep you safe," She said,  
"Not that simple," I responded as a huge man, one who even towered over me, walked into Beacon, he must've been seven feet tall, and he was in body armor, lots of it, but I couldn't tell how much because nothing on him was magnetic. He scanned the room, sweeping his eyes across me and Milly, he recognized me, and his face hardened, but then softened as he saw me with a girl, he noticed Hunter and walked over to him, he kneeled, and hugged him, Hunter face was 'visible' only to me, and I could see that shock was painted on it. The huge man stood, and shook Ozpin's hand,  
"I would like to stay for a while to both see what my son has been learning, and how he is doing, is that okay with you?" He asked, his voice deep, and I had recognition of my own within it, Ozpin pointed to the staircase with his cane,  
"There are guest accomodations ready, Mr. Jacobs, I hope you find them, suitable," Ozpin said, ending by looking up and down at his extreme height. My father nodded, and walked down the stairs, Ozpin left, and Goodwitch as well, slapping my arm with her riding crop as she went,  
"PDA Epsilon." She said, and kept walking, my dad walked up the steps, a little less burdened, having put down an immense bag that he'd had on his back. He walked toward Hunter,  
"So, son, what have you been learning in this place?" He asked, Hunter shrugged,  
"This, that, history, grimm biology and stuff." He said, but his voice was serious.  
"Excellent, where's ths rest of your team? I see part of it over there, but I wanna see if the rest of it can size up to how great you will be." He said as Tyler walked by,  
"Well that's Tyler," Hunter said, pointing, our dad walked over and shook Tyler's hand,  
"What do you have up your sleeves? Though I see you've the hands of a musician." He said, followed by a hearty laugh. Tyler got out his energy axes, showing them to the large man, who nodded, and was surprised when Tyler took out a violin scroll to show it to him.  
"Ho, Ho! You are a musician, quite alright, young one, but I hope you don't use those in the field." He said, and Tyler looked at him, playing a single note charged with fire dust and launching a slash of heat out the door, behind our father, who laughed again,  
"I must admit that that was quite impressive, be on your way warrior," He said, gesturing the direction Tyler had been walking.  
"He seems nice, but it seems so, forced," Milly whispered,  
"Yea, I'm not sure I would be okay with hurting him, he doesn't seem like a bad guy, just quick to anger, and lingering once it's there." I whispered back, and she nodded. Our dad followed Hunter as he led him to Nio, he was disapproving of Nio always wearing his hood, but was otherwise impressed, he then looked back toward me, and walking over, said,  
"And I know, all, about you, Epsilon, you may only hope, that I don't have the time to right a long forgotten, by you, wrong." All the happiness had left his voice, and now his voice actually sounded a lot like mine,  
"If, I ever, hear that you managed to hurt my son, Hunter, you should pray, to whatever god you demons hold dear, that I am already dead, or that you can run fast enough to get away from me, as it is, you might not even survive through this week, so it probably won't matter." He finished, and stood, having bent over to look me in the eyes, or at least where the should've been, he walked away, laughing as if he had just made a joke, he bid Hunter good night, and walked to his room, I walked Milly to hers, and she said,  
"Be careful, don't be in a room alone with him, I'll have the rest of my team watching him okay? But, just be safe, that man is dangerous."  
I nodded, and kissed her good night, hoping it wouldn't be the last kiss from her I got.

(So yea, no Mako fight, but it looks like a daddie fight might be coming up, so that's nice. We'll see more of their dad next chapter, maybe I'll get Mako and Epsilon together in a fight once my guy gets me the dets of the stadium and the tournament rules, so look forward to that)  
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	37. Chapter 37

Wednesday,

I woke up the next day in a cold sweat, our father had just walked into the room, but I'd learned long ago that it was a bad idea to jolt straight up once I woke, as a result, I had stayed laying down, and he assumed we were all still asleep, he went over to Hunter's bed, and shook him awake.  
"Hunter, the murderer is asleep, you could use this dagger to kill him now," He said, drawing one of the many daggers he held with him at all times, Hunter got down from his bed and walked uncertainly toward mine, he started climbing the ladder and it squeaked, he froze, and his father egged him on.  
"Don't worry lad, the fool is a heavy sleeper, attack now, I made that dagger out of a pink Ursa's teeth, it'll go straight through his aura." He said quietly, and Hunter raised the dagger, praying that I would wake, he attacked, and I caught his hand, disarmed him, and held the dagger at his throat, he smiled for a second, relieved,.before acting afraid,  
"You, me, duel room, I won't have you trying to get my own brother trying to kill me in my sleep." I said, my voice reminding me of his, he nodded, and I let Hunter go, grabbing my weapons from my locker on the way to the duel room, strapping my sword on my back and latching my shields onto my arms, having slept in my armor, I walked to a room, and he followed, we stood across from each other, Hunter had woken up Nio and Tyler, and they sat on the stands, I extended my shields to their full lengths, and held them at the ready, he looked surprised, but drew a great sword, and held it at the ready, we circled, getting closer and closer to each other, he struck, slashing horizontally, his great sword was larger than me, and had greater reach, I diverted the blade upwards, he turned, flipping the sword over his head and around in his hand, stabbing backwards in between his arm and his chest, the blade slammed into my chest plate, throwing me back, his speed with such a large sword was unnatural, and he lunged toward me, from above, I rolled as he cut through the gravel and through the dueling area machinery under the false turf, he pulled his sword from the ground as I stood, turning and slashing diagonally at my right side, I dodged, and the sword struck into the ground, getting stuck, but he jumped over it, still holding on, and used his momentum to rip the sword from the ground and slash at me again, this time faster than before, but I'd already rolled to my right, and Nano stood there instead, holding the sword my father had given me, Nano parried, completely stopping the great sword and making my father faulter, he pulled on the sword, but knew it would be useless, so he drew another greatsword from his back.  
"You're not allowed to do that!" I said,  
"Yer not allowed to generate magical dead guys to fight me," He responded,  
"Touché," I said, and Nano materialized next to me, handing me my sword, which I sheathed, and our father grabbed his great sword. Sheathing the other, we squared off again, and I attacked, dodging his downward swipe and slashing at his midsection, but he'd already flipped over his sword and landed behind me, I crouched as he turned, swiping horizontally, I spun forward, slashing with both blades, and actually made contact, burying a few inches of my right shield into a few inches of kevlar armor. Unfortunately, I was stuck, and he put his foot on my head and pushed, throwing me to the ground and making me skid a few feet, he laughed and yanked my shield from his armor, me ahving let it go, he tossed it aside and I stood, drawing the sword, he charged toward me and I parried, slashing at his midsection, putting another scratch on his armor, he grinned, and I stepped back, slashing at him with the sword while he regained momentum, it went straight through him, not hurting him at all, but sliced through his armor, he attacked, and I parried again, slashing until I'd cut a triangle into his armor. He charged, and I blocked with the sword, stabbing the triangle with my shield and pulling it out, he now had a pinpoint spot where I could damage him, but he'd dropped his greatsword and flexed his arms, summoning a sword like Hunter's and a tower shield spiraled out of his sleeve. He charged, and I braced my shield against the floor, he forced me back a few inches, I pushed back, he was taller than I, and was baring down on me with his weight, I crouched and dodged out from under him, he grinned, and fell, turning as he went and smashing me with his sword, which was smaller, but now carried more force, I was thrown back, my remaining shield getting left behind as I dragged on the ground, my backplate protecting me from the gravel but unable to protect me as my shield's straps broke my arm, I screamed in pain,and clenched my hand, using the remains of my shield to make a metal cast, using my aura to heal that wound right now would deplete my aura, even overflowing as it had been because I'd summoned Nano, I stood, and held my sword in my one hand as he approached, barely touched while I was broken, tired, and slightly afraid, he jumped forward unexpectedly, and I dodged his shield bash and parried his sword strike, he moved his shield just in time and hit my broken arm, I gritted my teeth, and punched him in the face with the hand I was using to grip the sword. His head snapped back and he looked at me, his nose bleeding,  
"Smashing," he said, and knocked me away with his shield, we squared off again, and I realized I had no way to hurt him, even if I did get past his guard, my sword couldn't hurt anyone with a soul, he lunged, and I parried his shield and hid from his sword around his shield, I turned and slashed at him, cutting through his shield and pushing the top half toward him, hitting him in the face with his own shield. He had been surprised at my sword slashing straight through his shield but not hurting him, and him getting hit in the face with his own shiekd surprised him even more, we separated, the top half of his shield falling to the floor, he grimaced and dropped it, holding his sword with two hands, he slashed down as I slashed up, cutting through his sword, lightning fast, he dropped the sword and punched me in the face, hitting again with the other hand, and then kneeing me in the broken arm, I gasped, the pain taking my breath away, he drop kicked me out of the dueling area, and grabbed his other Greatsword, walking toward me, I 'saw' him, and concentrated, he himsekf wasn't made of metal, but the pipes and some structures below us were, I concentrated more than necessary, and brought the building down on him. I stood, and looked at him, wondering what I'd done, the wreckage moved, and I saw him there, holding up the debris, I offered my hand, the one attached to the broken arm by accident, and he took it, pulling himself out of the wreckage. He watched me, my head was bowed, the pain from yanking around my broken arm greater than that of the drills when I'd been tortured, he saw my pain, and looked at my arm, he then channeled his aura into the damage, healing it. I took the cast off, and 'looked' at him in time to 'see' him punch me in the face,  
"That, was for my eldest son, you are strong, keep Hunter safe, and I might consider forgiving you for taking him from me." He said, then walked away, they found me, and I stood, using my aura to heal the assorted bruises and scratches. We walked back to the room as bulldozers appeared, clearing the wreckage. Goodwitch walked by,  
"Get a bit explosive? Epsilon?" She asked, not looking up, and I nodded, "No matter, maintenance can clean it up, but you may want to check on Milly, there has been, an accident,"  
"Where is she?" I asked,  
"The Hospital, go quickly," she said back, and I sprinted away the moment I knew where she was. I turned a corner, skidding, and continued running, getting to the hospital faster than before, not carrying Hunter this time. I skidded into the room, and saw her on the bed, I ran over, ignoring her team mates surrounding her, there was a burn on her face, and Nano appeared next to me, I opened my eyes and looked at them, anger pouring from my eyes in the form of green mist,  
"What, Happened?" I managed, ready to rip to shreds anyone who hurt her,  
"We were training, and summoned grimm to fight, she ran over to a small pink one and petted it, it exploded, and they all attacked her, we fought them off, but the damage was done, and Ian carried her here," Mako said, gesturing at the other boy, he was thin, and at middling height, his eyes changed color as he watched Milly with concern, a semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder. The other girl was slightly shorter than me, a purple tie held back her black hair, and daggers rested in sheaths up and down her arms, on of them had Alejandra etched onto the blade. I looked back at Milly, touching the burn on her face,  
"Did the beowulves get to her before you got to them?" I asked, looking at Mako, and he nodded, gesturing at scratches along her arms and a bandage on her side, were teeth had punctured her armor, her skin was pale, and they said she'd lost a lot of blood before they could bandage the wound. I placed my hands on her shoulders, and began to concentrate when Mako said,  
"Don't, they said attempting to do that would barely heal any damage and completely exhaust your aura, killing you,"  
"I know," I responded, and began channeling. The wounds on her arms healed first, then the wound in her side started as my aura went down to normal amounts, Nano stood beside me, watching me, I continued channeling, but I couldn't heal the large wound, and Nano pulled me back just before I killed myself, disappearing afterwards, the burn on her face had faded as a result of my attempt, but hadn't completely gone away, night fell, and we stayed, waiting, Hunter and Tyler brought Cole, and he did what he could, healing the burn on her face with a leaf and some random plant paste, but said that the wound on her side would require time. Deep into the night, we stayed, and they would've stayed longer, but were ushered out by a nurse, she tried to do the same to me, but Nano appeared and I looked at her, my eyes blazing green, and she walked backwards, leaving me alone, she stirred, and I looked at her hopefully, hoping both that she wouldn't wake and not have to feel the pain in her side, and selfishly wanting her to wake so I could make sure she was okay. The sun rose, and still she did not wake, and I did not sleep, I missed classes, but didn't care, I sat vigilantly at her side, saying nothing, only when Hunter came by did I talk, he said they were doing fine and not to worry, he knew how much I loved Milly and understood that I was worried, that day I summoned Nano and tried again, healing some of the wound in her side, and Hunter came back with some food, I ate, and said thank you, going back to waiting for her to wake. On the third day, my body decided it couldn't take it anymore, and I fell asleep leaning on her bed, Nano standing guard vigilantly in my place to make sure no one would try to move me. I woke, and 'looked' at her, she was still asleep, and I relaxed, I had healed most of the wound in her side, but they said she now needed time to regenerate lost blood, they constantly had tubes hooked up to her, and over time, her palor colored skin returned to it's healthy pink. She was healthy again, and she still didn't wake, I got worried, they said she may have had brain damage from the lost blood and the trauma of an explosion near her. I waited, and she stayed asleep three more days, and when she woke, she looked around in alarm,  
"Where am I?!" She asked, and I touched her arm,  
"Don't worry Milly, you're safe," she looked at me, and said three words that broke me.  
"Who are you?"

(No comment)  
-¶


	38. Chapter 38: Remembrance and Death

"Only short term memory has been damaged, she still remembers everything before this year at Beacon, and nothing is wrong with her ability to make long term memories, but the past couple weeks will be a big blank to her," A nurse said, "Eventually her memories will return, but I can't say when or what will cause them to return, her neurons will soon be rejuvenated now that brain activity is constant and we can only hope that her memories will return along with them."  
I stared into nothing, Nano at my side, his hand on my shoulder.  
"What's wrong with him?" She asked, and I looked up and saw her pointing at me. The nurse bit her lip, distressed, and I said,  
"I'm your boyfriend, well, was, I guess." I said, and looked down again,  
"You remind me of someone, I don't know who, and I don't know why, but I like you." She said, and my heart soared, a spark of hope powering it's engines. She stayed in the hospital another couple hours, and then checked out, we walked to her room, hand in hand,  
"It's weird, it's like, déja vu, but I can't remember the last time this happened," she said, and stopped at her door,  
"I feel like we are supposed to, do something here?" She asked strangely, and I grinned,  
"This is where I would kiss you good night, but I don't want to push it, wouldn't want you to think I'm someone taking advantage of you not having your memory," I said, and she smiled,  
"Okay, good night, er, what's yer name?" She asked,  
"James, but everyone calls me Epsilon." I responded,  
"Why?"  
"It's complicated." I said, she shrugged, and walked into her room, crowded by hugs from her team mates. I walked back to my team room, they greeted me happily, glad I had returned and happy that Milly was ok. We played a new game Tyler got. They were sheepish for a while, wondering if I was okay after all that happened, but I was so happy that Milly remembered me, if slightly, that it was infectious, and we were soon laughing and joking more than before.

Tuesday, (I got pretty confused about what day it was, so I'm gonna tell you what day it is whenever it transitions)

I woke up the next day and jumped out of bed, I created new collapsable shields, my old ones having been destroyed, and walked to Milly's room.  
I knocked, and Ian opened the door, he told me Milly had already left to classes and that I could walk with them if I liked, and I shrugged, we walked, and we talked, Mako silent, but Ian and Alejandra made up for it by being incredibly friendly. We got there, and Milly was sitting by herself, three seats open to her left and one seat open to her right, I sat next to her, and she grinned as I put my arm around her subconsciously. She cuddled up to me equally subconsciously and blushed as she noticed that she'd done it, I shrugged, and she cuddled up to me some more.  
"I wasn't sure if I'd gone too far, I don't know how far we are in our relationship." She said after Port got started into one of his stories.  
"Eh, do what feels right and I'll tell you if you've gone too far, we've been together for a bit, and you probably knew me better than almost anyone else." I responded,  
"Okay, how 'bout this?" She asked, then kissed me.  
"Still good, and we've kissed longer than that," I said,  
"Really? How long?" She asked, and I showed her, holding her head against mine tenderly for around a half a minute. We separated, and she breathed heavily, looking at my blindfold. Some people behind us said,  
"Daaaaaawww,"  
Port noticed, and said,  
"Yes, the injured dog was quite cute, but my grandfather saw it more merciful to blablahblah."  
We relaxed, we thought he'd noticed us kissing, he thankfully hadn't and Milly grinned at me, I smiled back, and she said,  
"I remember when we first met."  
At that, I smiled wider,  
"What happened to your eyes to make them messed up like you said they were?" She asked,  
"My father poked them out with a cattle brand, later, he figured out his torturous and cruel ways and wanted to repent, but Nano and I had already run away, later, we went back, I didn't want to 'see' him but you were there, and you helped me face my fear, he gave me the sword I keep in my locker." I answered,  
"Why don't you carry it with you?"  
"Pain is in that sword, apparently, and a trusted friend recommended I leave it behind as often as possible."  
"Wow, deep,"  
"Yep,"  
We talked for a while, I explaining most of what she missed to the best of my ability,  
"You either aren't lying to me, or you are really good at making up stories." She said, doubting me slightly, and I turned in my seat,  
"Oi! Isn't she my girlfriend?" I asked loudly, but not so loud so as to draw the attention of Prof. Port, they nodded, and I turned back forward,  
"See? How could I get all of them in on a lie so quickly, besides, you told me that whenever I lie my ear twitches." I said, looking at her.  
"Prove it, tell me a truth that only you would know about me, and then tell me a lie," she said, grinning, I thought for a moment,  
"You get really happy when someone squeezes your ears, and you think Nio isn't shady," I said, my ear twitching as I finished the sentence.  
"No one's ever tried squeezing my ear before, have you?"  
"I did, kinda,"  
"What do you mean, kinda?"  
"I told you about when I kinda got split in half right?" I asked, and she nodded,  
"While my dark half was looking through the forest for a weapon, my light half was with you, and while my dark half was extremely cautious and kinda shy, my light half threw all caution to the wind and was ridiculously in love with you, so I kinda, might've done some things, but can't remember them completely, trying to gives me a headache." I said, and she nodded, having been watching my ear for a twitch. She shrugged,  
"Try it, I don't know whether or not it works." She said, and I did so, grinning as she grinned stupidly,  
"How do I know you didn't just randomnly figure that out somehow?" She asked dreamily, her eyes out of focus, and I facepalmed, digging deep for a way to prove that we'd been together, I thought of something, and a light appeared above my head,  
"On our first date, you took me off the beaten path to a little garden, you said you would always go there to calm down when you were little, but you were mad because they put lamps there,"  
"So what happened?" She asked,  
"I kinda, destroyed the lamps after we left, but while we were there, I used the light from them and suspended bits of metal in mid-air, using the light from the lamps to make what I thought a night sky would be like, that was where we first kissed." I said, and she nodded.  
"Okay, I believe you." She said, and after that the day went by quickly, for us, at least.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio

I walked into Ooblecks room and sat next to Hunter as I normally did, and Oobleck launched into a discussion about recent White Fang movements and the consequences of such migrations. I took noted quietly, knowing it was what had to be done, Hunter fell asleep at one point, and I knew I'd have to lend him my notes, Tyler produced a tiny violin at some point and played it for a while as someone behind us got angry at the person next to him for stepping on his foot. Oobleck finished, assigned readings, and dismissed us, zooming off to get more coffee afterwards. I walked out the door and leaned back as a paper airplane flew out of nowhere, dodging it,  
"Ow!" I heard behind me, and turned to see Julia pulling it out of her uniform. There was a pin sticking out of the front of it, and I looked for who threw it, seeing no one suspicious but a shadow that disappeared around the corner as I looked. I turned back to Julia,  
"You okay?" I asked taking the paper airplane and removing the pin from it before throwing it in the garbage,  
"Yea, I'm fine, it just kind of hurt a little," She said,  
I nodded,  
"That was weird, why would someone do that?" I asked, and she shrugged, we walked to the next class, I sitting next to Hunter and Tyler again, her across the room, sitting with her team, another airplane flew by, landing on the floor near Port, he picked it up and inspected it, opening it and reading it, then throwing it in the garbage afterward. I took out mine and looked at it,  
"Find Aries and give this to him." The front said, and I shrugged, deciding to give it to him next time I saw him. Port got into a rant and I looked around for Aries, the seat where he normally sat was empty, Teresa, Cole, and Orion sat together, but Aries was nowhere to be found. After class, I asked them if they'd seen him and they said he'd been hiding in the team room all day, still waiting for all the girls to stop asking him to the dance. I went to their room and knocked. Aries answered it, and pulled me inside, closing the door behind me,  
"Hey, I'd rather talk in here, out there has been a little, volatile," He said, gesturing at several of his torn shirts.  
"Okay, well, someone keeps throwing these around, so do you want it? It say's to give it to you," I said, and he looked at it, then at me,  
"What have you done?" He asked, "were you followed?"  
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. Why?" I asked, and he showed me the writing on the inside of the paper,  
"Checkmate."  
I read it as the door burst open and a wave of girls rolled into the room,  
"Help me!" He said, getting pulled out of the room, holding out his hand, I shrugged,  
"Not my problem," I said, and wondered why I hadn't helped. Epsilon fought back the tide of girls into the room, and drew his sword, slashing through everyone, I stepped back, worried that Epsilon might get to me in his killing rage, he did, and slashed at my neck, strangely, the sword passed right through me, and a shadow fell to the ground nearby, I quickly grabbed Volund, and offered Aries it's head as he started getting carried through the door, he took it, pulling himself off the screaming girls, I let go, and he rolled out if the room, sprinting away. Epsilon was slashing through the shade on the floor, it screamed as he cut it to pieces and knocked it's parts away with his sword, it couldn't reform being so spread out, and melted into a puddle of shadow on the floor.  
"Thanks Nio, I've been hunting this thing for a while," Epsilon said,  
"You're the one who was making the paper airplanes?" I asked, and he nodded,  
"Anyone with their mind not clogged by this bugger knew that girls would follow them to the location of Aries. But some one who was possessed wouldn't think twice about it, glad I got here in time, the little shit almost melded with you permanently," he said,  
"Language, Epsilon," sounded from outside the door.  
"Anyway," he continued, "It conformed down to your height, and that would've been bad, but, you should stay away from my sword, you've got a bit too much light in your balance, so until you develop a slight bad habit or other, the sword can actually hurt you."  
I nodded,  
"The pins in the airplanes?" I asked,  
"Had to guide 'em somehow didn't I?" He said, grinning,  
"You may want to check on Julia, she really likes you, and I havebto say that because all the light in you makes you sorta blind, but whatever, that might be what she likes about you." He added, and walked out the door.

Name: Milly Last Name: Liberty

"Why do we have to train at night?" I asked, dragging my self out of bed,  
"You've just lost your memory of this year and maybe some of last year, it makes sense if you think about it," Ian said, rolling out of his bed with his dirty blonde brow-length hair perfect, his teeth brushed, and his shoes and armor on. Alejandra slowly cartwheeled out of her bed, stretching as she did so and slipping on her shin and arm pads under her billowing pants and long sleeved and loose black shirt, she was the picture of grace as she slipped on her shoes and tied them with the same movement, her hair tied back neatly in a ponytail behind her head.  
"How are you guys already ready to go?" I asked, putting on my armor and latching my armor skirt in place, doing the same to my breastplate and other armor pieces on my shoulders and forearms,  
"We already knew about this, we planned it last week," Ian said before he could stop himself, and I glared at him,  
"I'll let that go because of the extrenuous circumstances, but try not to forget that I'm as blind as Epsilon is about the last couple weeks," I said, holding anger out of my voice,  
"Who is that Epsilon guy? Not another one of your boyfriends, I hope," Alejandra said, and I responded,  
"Apparently we were very close, he's nice, and I could see why I would give him a chance,"  
"About that, you sure he's not taking advantage of you? We didn't see him at all before you were injured."  
"I have a feeling that my past self would have hidden him from you guys because of what you two might say, considering how quickly I went through boyfriends last year, besides, he knew about the star glade." I said, strapping my boots on. They both looked up, Ian, Alejandra and I had grown up together,  
"You never showed any of your past boyfriends the star glade, he might not be a fraud." Ian said, eyes wide, and I nodded,  
"That's why I believed him," I said as Mako walked into the room,  
"Let's go," was all he said, we stood, and walked out of the room, we crept into the forest, Mako leading the way, but my eyes piercing the darkness ahead of us, and my wings lit the other direction, I hadn't known where they'd come from, but they were beautiful, and something told me to where them,  
"Yes, that would be me," A kid said next to me, his eyes blazing the white of my aura color, Ian started, seeing the kid, his eyes like spotlights,  
"Whozzat?" He asked, his sword extending as he turned,  
"Not sure, but he's familiar, like Epsilon." I said back,  
"Yea, that would be because I'm his dead brother," he said, "And wow you think of me badly,"  
"Wait, so you're a ghost?" Ian said, pressing a button on the hilt of his sword, his sword withdrew and came back out as a greatsword, and he tried to poke the apparition,  
"Quit that, I'm Nano, you don't remember me?" He asked, and I shook my head,  
"Well crap, so why'd I come to help?" He said, waving his sword around which glowed white with Epsilons and infinity signs down its length, it passed through a tree with no resistance, but nothing else happened,  
"I don't know, why are you glowing with my aura color?" I asked, walking after Mako and Alejandra, gesturing at him to follow,  
"My bro wanted me to protect you, but didn't know you were doing this, and I couldn't just wake him up, so I'm borrowing your aura to fuel me," He responded, following me. Ian followed as well, and suddenly stabbed at him, trying to ascertain whether he was intangible or not, he parried the sword blow with the sword without looking, freezing Ian's sword in place for a moment. We continued, and eventually came upon a clearing, we spread out, Nano remaining at my side, and waited for grimm to come to us. A large beowulf pack appeared at the edge of the clearing, followed by a gathering of boarbatusks and a fair amount of Ursai, a Nevermore circled over head, they ran toward us, and Nano laughed, letting us defend and going to lie down in a tree somewhere, Mako also stood back, along with Ian and Alejandra and I charged ahead, bashing a boarbatusk to the floor and slitting it's throat, turning and ducking under an Ursa's paw as it swiped at my neck, I turned bending sideways, and hit it's arm, striking the bone inside, the Ursa roared in pain, and struck down with it's other paw, my shield was too far away to block the blow, my sword stuck in it's arm, and a sword fell out of the sky, blocking it's strike, it froze completely, and Nano appeared right next to me, leaning on the Ursa,  
"Wow, ruthless team, this would be an easy fight woth all of you here," he said, taking the sword and slashing off the sword of the Ursa with one strike, one of the Epsilons faded as he did so,  
"Straight back to fighting eh?" He said, and disappeared, reappearing back in his tree, his eyes shining across the clearing. I turned back, jumping and dodging in an effort to prove that I wasn't hobbled by my loss of memory, I ducked under another Ursa swipe, bashing the Ursa with my shield instead of making the same mistake again. I killed all eight of the Ursai and a large amount of the beowulves before Nano appeared next to me, blocking a feather from the sky, he grinned, and dematerialized, Mako and the rest of my team joined me, we slashed and fought. At one point, my wings flapped and a jet appeared on the back, pulling me away from the fight, to a tree. I watched them now, to see if I'd missed any of their new attacks and abilities, Mako sprinted forward, sliding under an attack from a beowulf and stood behind it, stabbing it's back with his Katana, Flint, he brought it up in front of him as another beowulf attacked, parrying it's blow, sparks flew in a rain around him as his sword ignited against the browulf's claws, it stepped back, fear in it's eyes, and he pressed forward, slashing through it's neck and spinning around it, ducking under it's still up paws and slashing at another behind it, cutting it in half with a blazing horizontal strike through it's mid section. Jumping over a boarbatusk as it charged and running after it, slashing at it's flank, then flipping over it to get it's attention and beheading it as it turned toward him, a beowulf worked up the courage and attacked, paying for it's valiance with both forepaws and it's head, removed forcefully by three attacks from Flint's firey blade, a boarbatusk roared and began to charge at him, Mako sheathed Flint, extinguishing it, and pulled out his revolver, firing two shots into the boarbatusks eyes, it was dead before it reached him.  
Alejandra whirled and cartwheeled through enemies, delivering devestating blows to the hind legs of boarbatusks and barely tapping their armored heads, confusing them, one charged her, and she wrapped a leg around one of it's tusks, ducking under it's body for a moment before pushing down with her hands, flipping it over, she then sprung into the air, managing a flip before drawing a dagger and hurling it at it's exposed stomach, it was buried hilt deep in it's flesh as she landed on it, sending it through the beast and into the ground under it, flipping backwards as a beowulf attacked, she landed and roundhouse kicked it's head off it's shoulders, she crouched under a ferocious swipe from a beowulf and kicked straight up, snapping the animal's head back with enough force to kill it, a third approached and jumped at her, she rolled toward it, and it went to attack again, but found itself in a different spot, Ian using his spatial shift semblance to great ability, different from spatial distortion, you could only move others and there was no snap back afterwards, the trade off, was that there was only a certain amount of times you could use it before you tired, while most can spatial distort whenever they wanted, Ian had recently gotten his counter up to around a hundred, so it wasn't something he worried about, he had moved the beowulf directly in front of him, and used his greatsword to cleave it in half down the middle, doing so everynow and then to confuse and kill an enemy one by one, if a boarbatusk was about to gore Mako, he would make it appear 50 feet straight up, if a beowulf was about to mess up Alejandra's perfect form, he would transport it under ground or into the center of a tree. A Death-Stalker crashed through the trees behind him, and he jumped away from it, he attempted to spatial shift it into the floor, but only managed to make it's bottom half sink into the ground slightly, Alejandra flipped forward,taking advantage of it's slight predicament to roll around it, sending knives into chinks of it's armor and into it's joints, Mako ran forward, diverting a strike from one of it's claws away from an exhausted Ian, igniting Flint again as he did so, he cut diagonally upward, then horizontally, the diagonally downward, cutting a triangle shaped hole in it's armor, I jumped from the tree as Ian tossed his greatsword up, I caught the greatsword and rolled, driving the sword into it's brain with my momentum. They annihilated the remaining grimm, and I looked up to see the Nevermore still circling, I readied myself to jump up to it, but Nano appeared in front of me,  
"Ah,ah,ah, Nevermores are nasty tickets, let a professional take care of this," He said, stepping backwards into nothingness and appearing on the back of the nevermore, with two strikes, he severed it's wings, de- and re-materializing under it with a flash as it fell, and he beheaded it with it's own momentum, vanishing out of mid-air again and appearing at my side. We walked back to the school, satisfied that we were still in shape.

(So yea, I was scared for a bit about Milly, shown by my speechlessness last chapter, the dance is gonna take a chapter, and we'll find out why Nio was so grumpy, Epsilon will dance with someone who barely remembers him, and uh, who is Hunter's date? Ian's sword is SICK and I wasn't able to do it justice this chapter, Alejandra has potential energy charging pads cuz you couldn't possibly have known that, yet another of these OC semblances that deal directly through their weapons, and a good visual of how this team, MIMA, works together in unison to kill enemies too extreme for one of them at a time, and, of course, Nano showing off because Epsilon let the dog(s) out(Yes, anyone can host Nano's existence as long as they've at least seen his living form or if he was hosted by some one else and fueled by another, bottom line, Nano can help Milly because she saw him the year earlier, Cole could also technically summon him but frowns upon necromancy), Note* I came up with only Milly, and Ian in that group, so who came up with Alejandra? I'm afraid the owner has asked to stay unanimous, but I would still like to thank that person for an excellent submission that I most likely would not have come up with)  
-¶


	39. Chapter 39

Saturday of that week

Still Epsilon

"Tyler, remember to get a blue tuxedo so that way it matches with my dress." Teresa said as we left to go clothes shopping, Teresa had already apparently bought a dress, and the girls were going separate for their dresses to be surprises. We rode down to town, I walked to the nearest fine clothing store, and stepped inside,  
"Hey clerk! You guys got a green highlighted tuxedo I could buy?" I called, not wanting to walk through aisles looking for something I couldn't see.  
"We do, but buying a tuxedo is very uncommon, may I suggest renting it?" The clerk said politely, and I softened my words,  
"Excellent proposal, but will the grand total be less than if I were to buy?" I asked,  
"No, dependent on how long you keep the tuxedo, it will most likely be less pocket emptying than buying it,"  
"Fantastic, thank you for showing me the correct way to get a tuxedo for a night," I said, stepping into his view and indicating that I was blind, I paid, was given the correct tuxedo, and stepped back out of the shop. Hunter stepped into it and asked for a plain black and white tux, and stepped out a minute later, so we walked back to the airships to Beacon. We found Teresa in our room, on Tyler's gaming computer,  
"Hello!" She said when she saw us,  
"So what color did Tyler get?" She asked, turning toward us and resting her head on her hands. We both shrugged,  
"I'm blind,"  
"And I just went into the first store I saw."  
"You boys don't know how to go shopping, you're supposed to stay together and give each other fashion tips," Teresa said, pouting,  
"I'm blind,"  
"And I just went into the first store I saw, we probably got ripped off," Hunter said, and Nio walked in the door, followed by Julia, who was sullen. I pointed at her, and he said,  
"She told me her bipolarism is acting up, and she isn't feeling it today,"  
"Then it's good that the dance is tomorrow," I said, and he shrugged,  
"We'll see how it goes, I do hope you feel better soon," he said to Julia, who nodded and trudged out the door. We waited, playing video games(I couldn't duh), board games, chess, whatever came to mind, but eventually all of our team got back, and Teresa squeeled at the azure color Tyler had picked. Tyler played his knock out song to himself, Nio lay staring at the ceiling, Hunter fell asleep instantly, and I shut off the lights, rolling over and feeling something very small, with teeth and claws, and dust in it's system, laying in bed with me. I ripped it away from me, beheading it with my sword as it fell, and 'looked' at it, my 'sight' unhindered by darkness. It was one of the small, self detonating grimm, someone had tried to plant a bomb in my bed. Ozpin was notified, and I rolled back over, falling asleep easily.

Sunday

I woke the next day and slipped out of my bed, grabbing my sword from the ground where I'd left it, and sheathed it, opening the door to find Milly behind it,  
"Hey Milly," I said, inching around her as she waited for a kiss,  
"What? You don't wanna kiss me?" She asked, following me,  
"I would love to, but I haven't brushed my teeth yet." I said, walking in the direction of the bathrooms.  
"Oh, oops," she said, grinning. I walked in, brushed my teeth for a few minutes, and I walked back out,  
"You brush for a long time," Milly said,  
"I have to, it's what keeps my pearly whites, so pearly white," I said, smiling to show off my immaculate teeth. We got to my team room, and I turned toward Milly, about to say something, when she kissed me, she brought her arms around me, tenderly holding me against her, standing on her tip-toes to reach, I leaned over her, touching the side of her face, we kissed for a few moments, and she pulled back, smiling,  
"It's like whenever I kiss you, I get more and more of my memory back," she mentioned,  
"Let's test that theory, shall we?" I said, and kissed her, rubbing her back and running my fingers through her hair, stopping at her ears and squeezing them gently, she hummed, in bliss, and I heard someone say,  
"Get a room you two!"  
We separated, and she nodded,  
"I'm definitely gonna have to kiss you more often," she said,  
"Because it worked?"  
"That, and you are a great kisser," she added, walking away.  
"Sweet," I whispered, and walked into my room, the ninja maintenance team had cleaned up the dead grimm's body while we slept, but apparently it's really hard to get dust-charged blood out of the carpet. They were all still asleep, me not having slept in like I normally did, so I decided to see if I could find out who kept putting some pleasant, and others unpleasant, surprises in my bed, I thought for a moment, and headed to the training rooms, a dust charged grimm had appeared in them before, maybe the culprit had gotten one from there, Nano appeared as I walked,  
"Could those things be done with a spacial shift semblance?" He asked, and I shook my head,  
"Spacial shifter and spacial distorters can't shift or distort through a solid object, like a door for that matter, since their semblance requires linking one spot in a spatial area to another through an aura channeled link, spacial distorters can do so all day because the snap back gives them back a large percentage of the energy used, spatial shifters don't have that snap back unless they do it really close by, so they have a set amount of times they can do it," I explained, checking through the training room entrance list, one person walked in alone, calling four sets of beowulves before leaving, either this person was just training, or he had been cycling through enemies, I heard a carrier behind me,  
"Surprise," Torchwick said, stepping out of the shadows and sending men down to attack, I grinned, extending my shields after handing Nano my sword, ten people surrounded us, and Nano dematerialized, but my eyes weren't forced shut, so I knew he was around somewhere,  
"Well, looks like your luck has run out, Epsilon, sorry to say, that you won't be using that tux you got yesterday, it's over for you, you couldn't get away from us last time, and you had Goodwitch to help you, what chance do you have now?" He called,  
"One thing, is I'm not tired, second thing, your ship is broken." I said as Nano fell from the sky, cutting off one of the dropship's wings, he de- and re-materialized next to me, and I blocked a sword strike with my left shield, tuning and severing the head from another white fang infantry man with a swipe from my right shield, Nano parried a blow as I crouched, rolling backwards and over me to parry an attack behind me as I stabbed through his old opponent, six enemies remained, and I braced my shield against the floor as Nano jumped off of it, then skewering three people on my other shield as they charged ahead, Nano threw the sword, cutting through one of the people, and de- and re-appeared in front of it, catching it and rolling forward to swipe through the laast two guys,  
"Wait, why did the sword work?" I asked, and kicked the mask off of one of the 'men' I saw another masked face underneath, the mask that most grimm had. I was startled by part of Torchwick's ship exploding, and walked over to it, a man was holding up Torchwick by his collar, and getting ready to punch him in the face with a spiked gauntlet. Nano disappeared and I sheathed my sword, using my semblance to stop him as he was about to knock Torchwick's head from his shoulders,  
"No no no, we need Torchwick alive, and since you aren't in a position to resist me, I'd suggest just handing him over," I said politely,  
"What do you mean, 'not in a position to resist me'?" He growled, literally, as I noticed wolf ears atop his head.  
"Your weapons and armor are made of metal, I have a polarity semblance, natural, fighting me with your current equipment woukd be a very, bad idea," I explained, he growled again, but dropped Torchwick,  
"Don't let him escape, and he's mine when you freaks are done with him." The man said, walking away. Torchwick went to shoot me with his cane to find it ten feet above him in the air,  
"Ah, ah, ah, I know all your tricks." I said,  
"How 'bout this one?" He said, pulling out a plastic tranquilizer gun and shooting me in the neck,  
"Nano," I managed before I fell back, unconscious. I woke six hours later, in the hospital wing type room, Milly sitting next to me, I looked at the tranquilizer thing, it's tip looked like it was made out of bone, or tooth. Milly noticed that I was awake, and said,  
"Epsilon! You're okay! I was so worried!" She said,  
"Where's Torchwick?" I asked, remembering my promise to that wolf faunas,  
"Still getting his face pounded in by Nano out front, everytime we get close Nano throws Torchwick far away, de and re materializes and catches him, going back to beating the crap out of him with his bare hands." She answered, and Nano appeared next to us,  
"I was called?" He asked,  
"Torchwick?" I questioned,  
"With Ozpin and getting interrogated?" He responded, and I grinned, ohrasing everything as a question was something we'd done when we were little, I looked at Milly, and noticed she was breath taking in an emerald green gown.  
"The dance?" I went on,  
"Under way in like half an hour," she responded, almost sadly, and I stood,  
"Well we can't miss it can we?" I asked, and she looked up at me,  
"Are you strong enough? That tranquilizer dart was enough to leave an Ursa drooling on the floor for twelve hours." She said,  
"You doubting me? If you are, don't, because I'm always strong enough for you," I said, kissing her and walking to my team room with Nano's help. I stepped into the room and put on the tuxedo with a little difficulty, but feeling far better once it was on, I walked out to meet Milly, still weak, but not so weak that I needed Nano to move, I chugged a glass of water and met Milly outside, putting my blindfold on as I went. I smiled at her, the dress hugged her beautifully, showing off her curves but widening out around her waist, being a dress instead of a sliver tueb if clothing to wear, I knew what color it was, so I could imagine how she looked,  
"That dress looks perfect on you," I said, making sure to phrase it so that she knew I was complimenting her and not the dress, we walked to the mess hall, all the tables had been moved out and a speaker system had been installed for the occasion, spotlights roamed the dance floor, but I only knew that because I could see spotlights looking down from the ceiling. My thoughts were turned back towards Milly as she led me into the center of the room, a slow dance came on, and we swayed to the beat, me learning quickly how to dance by 'watching' the feet of others.  
"Epsilon, why did you originally fall in love with me?" She asked suddenly, I thought for a few seconds,  
"I guess itnwas because you took the initiative, you just went ahead with a person you never knew, a person who hadn't allowed anyone to get close to him, you got through my walls, not breaking through them, but more like getting me to let you in by letting me in first, I worked so hard to make sure no one could hurt me, and you made all that useless by not hurting me anyway. That's why I fell in love with you, my little fox," I said, adding the last part as her tail brushed my hand. I knew she'd been watching my ear, and was happy that she knew I was telling the truth, but I hoped that I could someday get her to trust me enough to not have to watch me to know whether I'm telling the truth. The sing ended, and I hadn't noticed while we were dancing, but I was now exhausted, and we walked over to some seats, I stopping by the refreshment table and grabbing us some drinks. We sat, and watched the hilarity on the dance floor as someone walked in, dragging Aries behind her, having managed to wrestle him into a tuxedo. He managed not to majorely hurt anyone, but it was obvious he didn't know how to dance, Nano appeared, his clothes somehow changing to suit the occasion, and I took off my blindfold as he walked over to a lonely girl and offered his hand, she took it happily and walked over to dance with him. The room was enveloped in pink and assorted purples, it looked like a huge valentines day card, and the spotlights sweeping the floor sometimes stopped on a couple, and they would continue dancing when everyone else stopped to watch, a pink heart spotlight settled on us, and I kissed Milly, the spot light disappeared after a few seconds, but we remained, locked in a tender embrace, we stopped, and she looked at me,  
"You feeling strong enough again to go dance?" She asked, and I stood, doing my best to do so without difficulty,  
"For you? Always," I said, offering my hand. We danced for a while longer, staring into each others eyes, but eventually, the clock struck midnight, and the pink and purple lights faded, replaced by only white spot lights and green lasers, a faunas with Mau5e ears walked over to the DJ and shoved him out of the way, flipping a disc between his fingers and placing it on the turntables, the speakers screamed  
"Faaaallling towards the, skyyyy, waaaiting, for myyyyyyyy ride,"  
We got off the dance floor as the people who knew how to breakdance started, following at the speed of the lyrics. We sat back down and watched, Nano flipped onto the dancefloor and started breakdancing too,  
"I always thoight Nano might've had a past time other than that of killing stuff," I said and Milly laughed, around the second chorus, the DJ found out that someone hadn't told him the limits of the speakers, and they blew out, everyone got angry, and Milly looked at me,  
"You wouldn't be able to…?"  
"Always," I said, standing and clenching my hand as Nano disappeared in the commotion, all the silverware around the room rose, and turned into a powder, I concentrated, and vibrated the filaments mid-air, creating a metallic, slightly high pitched noise, they watched the new spectacle, and Hunter tossed me his headphones,  
"Copy the song!" He yelled over the noise,  
"Tenno, you, are needed," The filaments said as I did my best to follow the song. I walked over to the DJ, who was getting new and better speakers,  
"Keep that up for another couple minutes! I've got friends on the way with a backup!" He called, and I nodded, concentrating further as the beat intensified,  
"It is time," the filaments rang out, and I vibrated the filaments roughly, dropping the bass. We cycled through Hunter's playlist, and I copied the songs the best I could, but thankfully, the extras came by and I funneled the metal powder onto a table, the maintenance ninjas started working on the speakers, and I sat back down next to Milly as Nano reappered and found his date. She kissed me, and, pulling back, she said,  
"You, are amazing,"  
I looked at her,  
"And you, are breath taking," I said, we relaxed, my arm around her, we watched Hunter dance with his date,  
"What do you think about Hunter and Alejandra?" Milly asked as Hunter dipped her and looked into her eyes.  
"Hunter's my brother, and that's cool, but I don't know Alejandra, and she seems intense," I responded, and Milly nodded, lost in thought, I told her I was gonna go get a drink, and stood, walking over and doing so, noticing Mako sitting alone, I walked over,  
"Hey, you doing okay?" I asked, and he said nothing, Milly noticed me talking to him and I gestured to chill, I sat down next to him, following the path of his eyes to a couple across the room, a black haired faunas girl dancing with a tall monkey tailed faunas boy, in his eyes, a look of betrayal, even longing lurked, and we sat, not saying anything for a while,  
"I really like her, but I can't just do that, and it feels wrong to want a relationship to break up," he said suddenly, nand I watched the two as well, the girl seemed mildly happy, but she looked like the kind of person who had a lot to them, more than met the eye, she probably didn't smile much, and talked even less, and she was with him, but I thought that she seemed to match better with this solemn, understanding guy next to me rather than the jumpy, playful guy she was with, we watched a bit longer,  
"Do you think I should? I've seen her more happy, and I know I could do that for her-" he started, but I shook my head,  
"Trying to force any relationship would be a bad idea, most times, they will just happen, and when they do, know how to say yes," I said, and he nodded,  
"So what should I do now?" He asked,  
"Asking a blind man for directions isn't always the best idea, even if I'm temporarily not one, I'd suggest following your heart, just about right now," I said, as the faunas monkey boy's hand slipped too far down and the girl pushed him away, leaving the hall. Mako nodded, and stood, walking after her, I walked back over to Milly, and we enjoyed the rest of the dance in peace.

Earlier that day, just before the dance,

Name: N/A Known as: Nio  
"Hey Julia, You feeling better?" I asked, rhetorically as she bounced into the room.  
"Yep!" She chirped, she was wearing a blue dress which went down to her knees, getting frilly at the bottom, she swirled,  
"What do you think?" She asked,  
"Y-you're beautiful," I said, once again intimidated by her presence.  
"That's a nice tuxedo," She said, "But I'm afraid I like the person inside it better," she finished, and I offered her my hand, we walked out of the room, seeing Torchwick dragged down the hall by two of the beacon posted hunters. We walked into the mess hall, which was awash with deep purples and brighter pinks, we swayed to the beet of the music, and I saw Epsilon for a moment, his eyes trained on Milly, and I looked back at Julia, enjoying her presence, that song ended, and another one started, one I didn't know, I started to lead her off the dance floor, but she giggled, understanding the situation,  
"Don't worry, I'll teach you," she said, holding my hand and guiding my steps,  
"You're a good dancer," I complimented, and she smiled,  
"My brother always used to learn songs just for me, so I could dance to them with a friend, but I think he to do that so he could watch me and whoever I was dancing with," she said as Tyler got my attention and mouthed,  
"Hand stays ABOVE the waist."  
I nodded, and checked my hand positioning, I looked back at Julia, her eyes were twinkling as she looked into mine,  
"I swear you had blue eyes before, but I might've just been going a little crazy," she said, and I shrugged,  
"Everyone's gotta be a little crazy sometimes, I'm glad that you're here with me though, however crazy you might be," I said, and she smiled. We danced for a while, every now and then Julia would show me how to dance a certain part of the song and I mdid my best to add it in when it seemed fit, the song ended, and I found myself doing something she hadn't taught me, I dipped her and she looked at me, eyes sparkling, I brought her back up and usted off my pants sheepsihly,  
"So you wanna get something to drink?" I asked, and she nodded, we walked off the dance floor and talked for a while about the dance, the people, anything that came to mind, and eventually the lights faded, the DJ started playing other songs but the speakers blew out, and then Epsilon had to go and show off, it was interesting though, the filaments floated in waves above our heads,  
"It's like we're seeing sound," Julia said at one point, amazed at Epsilon's strength, Julia covered her ears as the bass dropped, and I led her outside, we sat on the fountain in front of the school, after I brushed dust off of it, we watched the stars, and I concluded that Julia's eyes twinkled brighter than them.  
"Have you talked to anyone? About your past?" She asked, and I shook my head,  
"I'd rather not share it, it pains me to think about it," I responded, and she glared at me,  
"Keeping it inside won't help, I've told you that before," she said, glaring at me,  
"It just, feels, weird, I've never told anyone my past, I don't think I'm ready," I said, and her face darkened,  
"I'm trying to help, why do you make it so hard? It's so obvious you're in pain, so why do you try to make everyone believe you aren't?" She asked, getting impatient, I looked at her, concern was sincerely in her eyes, but I found tears welling in mine, I looked away, she moved closer to me, now almost sitting on my lap, and pulled my face back to look at hers, she was inches away,  
"You don't have to bear the pain alone, I know you were there when I transformed last time, I think you can be ready, I think it's a decision you make, you've seen my ugly side, it's okay to reveal yours." She said, and I looked at her, ready to pour my heart out, and my past, but I shook away from her, standing and walking a couple steps away, when I looked back, a violet light glowed from her chest, and she took the pendant off and walked away, back into the hall.

(So yea, Ouch, I did not see that coming, apparently Julia is a little too insistent, and Nio is a bit too afraid, almost as bipolar as Julia is out if combat, but whatev, will continue on to next chapter, but wow, I really expected the story to let Nio reveal his mysterious 'past' but oh well, who knows, maybe the story will turn back that way,  
Note* I do say that I do not write the story, though I technically do, I just write what feels right, I'm not copying this story from someone else or something, Review, PM me, OCs)  
-¶


	40. Chapter 40:The Armor Shed and the attack

I stood alone, in front of the school, and Tyler found me, I winced, and he shook his head,  
"I said I'd kill you if you hurt her, my sister just went ahead and hurt herself, she's always had that problem, pressing too far, and most times I found myself not watching out for her, but for whoever she was with." He explained, but I shook my head too,  
"She wants to share my pain, what's wrong with me for keeping her from that? What would be wrong with me if I gave her her wish and it was too much?" I asked, stuck between a rock and a hard place,  
"Well, it looks to me, that all you've got to fear, is fear itself, don't let fear control you, sometimes you may have to shed your armor, not with this," He said, tapping my glove, "but with this," He continued, tapping my heart,  
"What if she doesn't-"  
"What if, what would, what is, chillax, let your insecurities go, they can't help in the long run. Listen, how could I be a musician if I was worried about what other people would think of me? Sometimes the least armor is the best armor, if you tell her, and she's revolted, brush it off, pain is weakness leaving the body, but before you go thinking she will be revolted, know that she's in there, crying on Cole's shoulder because she can't understand, she doesn't love Cole, no matter what that stupid pendant says, she loves the understnading he brings, the clarity that surrounds him, and I can guarantee, that once she feels she knows you,.nothing will ever stand between you two again, because you seem to understand her, now go in there, bring her back out here, and shed the tough armor only for her, and by doing that, her heart will be forever yours." He said, and walked away,  
"Why'd you tell me that?" I called,  
"Hmmm?"  
"Why'd you help?"  
"It makes sense if you don't mistake me, I don't want her to be alone, but I want her to be safe, I want her to be happy, and you seem like the person who can do that since I apparently no longer can." He finished, walking back into the pulsating hall. I wiped my face, and walked after him, finding her exactly where he'd told me she'd be, Cole was consoling her, patting her back monotonely, but obviously trying to make sure she developed no further feelings for him, I nodded, and he shrugged suddenly, bouncing her off my shoulder and onto me, crying into my tuxedo without looking up, I led her outside, and we sat where we'd been sitting before, now was the time to do it, to reveal my past, to shed my armor, but I once again found myself unable to. So I stared at her, she eventually looked up and saw me, tears in her eyes, and I looked down at her, I took her hand, and she pulled it away, so I returned to looking ahead,  
"I never knew my mother, sometimes I think I'd been created, incubated in that cell, chained to a post, I, escaped, and was put into trauma therapy, it didn't work all that well, and I've still got, scars, they taught me, putting me in a school known only as spectra academy, it's not a misnomer, I never heard of it again, I, worked, with an anti terrorist organization for a while, and my caretaker, my handler, found me, gatekeeper is what I use as her name, she got me into beacon, and here I am now, with you, but apparently, still alone." I said, finding myself talking without meaning to,  
"You are never alone," she whispered, and looked up, her tears gone, wiped away by my sincerity, we stared at each other for a moment, and she leaned forward, pressing her lips against mine, I was surprised by that, but I was surprised even more by the three carriers dropping from above.

(Oooooh, unexpected!)

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

"Well shit," I said as I sensed the situation outside, Tyler took out a scroll, generating a large boundary glyph by playing through the speakers as the carriers opened fire on the building. I tried to stand, but my earlier expendages and the tranquilizer earlier wouldn't let me, Milly saw me and put my arm over her shoulder, half carrying me as we went inti the hallway, I leaned on the wall,  
"I'll get safe, you get your armor on and becareful," I said, knowing she wouldn't listen to me if I asked her not to go help. She nodded, and ran to her team room, as I managed to get to our room and drop as a carrier apepared at the window, spraying into the room, I raised my hand slightly as I rolled into another room, clenching it, I only managed to bend and break one of it's fuel pipes, it started going down, and I got out of my tuxedo and put on my own armor, I tried to kind of limp to the door, but Nano appeared in my way, I nodded, and handed him my sword, reaching for my cane and laying low.

Name:N/A Known as: Nio  
I activated my armor and summoned my weapon, Nano appeared next to me a moment later with Epsilon's sword, his eyes glowing a bright green, I tilted my head quizzically,  
"Using both Milly's and Epsilon's auras makes me both skilled with my sword and stronge, considering Epsilon is a bit below the weather," He explained, and we turned back to the troops dropping in from the windows, I strafed them, killing them with Saphire cutter in semi-automatic mode. Bracing Saphire Cutter agains tmy shoulder and switching it into full auto, my suit outlinign targets and 'civilians', although no one at Beacon was a civilian, that was shown a moment later as many of us revealed weapons, Mako jumped inti the room with Blake right behind him, he drew Flint and parried an attack, igniting Flint as he did so. Pulling out his revolver and shooting an enemy that had snuck up on me as I surveyed the scene, his gun acting more like a flamethrower than a pistol and the bullet lit the enemy on fire as it passed through his shoulder, only to be stopped by Nano's blade as he parried four attacks at once and deflected the bullet with the same move,  
"Hey, I may be dead, but friendly fire still hurts, I'm a bit without an aura without a soul!" Nano called, slashing through the four enemies in front of him at light speed. Mako nodded and his sword extinguished, trying not to waste aura. Blake drew her weapon and flipped into action, getting people without weapons to their room. Ruby giggled and activated Crescent Rose,  
"And they said I was crazy for bringing a weapon." She launched herself forward with a shot as Nano appeared behind her, slashing at more white fang troops that burst through the windows. He grunted, and his eyes blazed brighter, healing the wound, Milly faultered as she walked into the room, and Epsilon nearly lost consciousness on the floor, Nano winced and appeared next to Milly, protecting her as his eyes became fully white with barely a twinge of green, him now only drawing from her for energy, looking to Epsilon for his skill. He went back to fighting, at one point teleporting onto one of the carriers and slashing it's engines off. I changed it from gun to sword mode and channeled into saphire Cutter, then slashed through some enemies as explosions sounded from the hallway, sprinting over, I saw that they'd released explosive grimm into the hallway, I ran over, sliding around the corner and skewering one as it jumped at me, my visor identified four, and I switched Saphire Cutter back to gun form, putting one shot into three of their heads, and two in the fourth. I looked around, noting the hole in the wall and the dust charged grimm pouring from it, Mako walked into the hallway next to me. I didn't know what to make of him, Epsilon had only told me of him, not about him, but I shrugged and figured he couldn't be a bad guy as he sprinted straight into the thicket of the fighting, I ran after him, covering his left side as Milly joined us on his right, we fought back the grimm flowing from the carrier and Nano appeared inside, ducking under an attack he couldn't've seen coming, and I saw him referencing my visor every now and then for the location and doings of anything behind him. He rent the ship open, killing everything in sight, at one point he swiped through Milly, she was fine, but it scared me, Epsilon had said I had too much light in me, if he accidently did that to me… I shuddered at the thought, and rolled to the right as a pink beowulf descended from above, it attacked faster than I could see, and my armor notified me of a hit but no damage, I channeled into my sword as the beowulf attacked again, it slowed, almost to a stop, and I cut it in fourths, time returning back to normal as I stopped channeling, my armor reported an imminent explosion, and I jumped back as Nano thrust with all his might into the dust tank of the ship, detonating it and the remaining entities inside, he appeared next to me,  
"You've seen me before," He said strangely, and I shrugged as a hint of blue entered his eyes and then faded, he shrugfed as well, and we ran back ti the hall, Milly activated her wings and flew quietly after some soldiers that weren't paying attention, motioning that we go off to find out if everyone else was OK, Mako nodded, and we went back the other way, Milly tailing them to find out their objective. I ran to the team room, and saw Epsilon on the floor, I walked over and offered my hand, but he grabbed my ankle and pulled my leg out from under me as a carrier flew by with a spotlight, I played dead, and it moved on, I looked back at him, his chrome armor gleamed as he shifted, pushing himself to a kind of sitting position against the wall, I offered my hand again as my armor reported an incoming projectile, it hit me, exploding, and I was launched out the window, over the edge of the cliff.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

"Well, well," Torchwick said as footsteps rang into the room, I was completely blind now, unable to activate my semblance to see, and Nano relying on someone else for energy, leaving me with out eyes,  
"I knew I should have killed you the first time we met, but I was feeling, merciful, but that was before you orchestrated the destruction of my dust charging compound, and now how am I gonna get the dust out of the kingdom? The remaining dust, by the way, you destroyed around three fourths of our hard work, and now that I know your name, I'm gonna kill you with pleasure, James," He said, and I gasped, him knowing my name could mean he'd gotten to Cardin, which would be bad, but it also meant he could've gotten to Hunter,  
"Yes, the little guy was better than most of those who have the job occupation of his name sake, but I know his name, and I think you can work out what that means." He said, and pressed his cane to my chest,  
"Goodbye, Epsilon," He said, and pulled the trigger.

(No comment)  
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	41. Chapter 41

"You should be dead," He said, pulling the trigger again and sending another explosive shot into my chest, I activated my dwindling aura, and healed my eyes, looking at him, I grinned,  
"Your stupid scientists just had to put it into my bloodstream as well?" I said, coughing up pink blood and watching as the hole in my chest started to disappear,  
"I may not be able to kill you," He growled, finally losing his cool, "But this will definitely leave a mark,"  
He aimed at my head with his cane, and I looked down it's barrel with one eye and watched Milly smash through the window with the other. She slammed into him, and he fell, onto me, but I was useless, I couldn't even move, she hauled him off of me and slammed him into a wall, he grunted and elbowed her in the face, she stumbled backward, and he turned, shooting her with his cane as some of the feathers from her wings dettached and slashed at him, she was thrown across the room and he barely dodged the razor feathers, his cane didn't, and it was cut in half. He looked at it, then sprinted out the door. I looked at Milly, the explosion had thrown her into a wall, she'd hit her head, and was unconscious on the ground, Nano materialized in the room, and nodded, guarding the door until help arrived. The White Fang had released grimm into the school as a diversion for their plot to free Torchwick, as a result, the help had to fight through an advanced version of the emerald forest. I watched Milly, her head in my lap, and hoped the help would get there soon.

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A

"Why don't we just go get them right now?"  
"We aren't well enough equiped, most of us don't have our weapons remember?" Hunter responded, pacing the room,  
"So I'll go get some," I said, shrugging,  
"They'll tear you apart," he said, shaking his head, we'd made it to a team room, not sure which team the room belonged to, there were hastily constructed bunk beds near the wall, it had been one of the rooms untouched by the carriers, no one having gotten in, I looked around, seeing some yellow bracelets on a nearby dresser, and a rapier sat against one of the walls.  
"I don't see any sure fire awesome weapons in here, let's leave, and group up, then head to your team room to check to see if Epsilon made it there." I suggested, and he shrugged,  
"I can't think of a better plan at the moment,"  
We stepped into the hallway, and looked, seeing no grimm, we ran toward the entrance of the school, I drew Volund, converting it to hammer form, and turned to smash a beowulf into last week, we continued running, every now and then one of us killing a pink grimm. We got outside, and looked around. Anyone with a weapon had it out and was guarding those without weapons, I held up the rapier and the bracelets, and a yellow haired girl said thanks, putting the bracelets on, the other hmphed, snatching away her frog sticker and cleaning my fingerprints off it,(Though I have none) I turned back towards the school, followed by a couple random people, one guy in an all black tux with a Katana at his side, a beautiful girl in a black dress with purple accents, and a kid in a white hood, headphones around his neck, being the first DJ, he'd not been dressed up, but had had his weapon with him, just a hilt. I jumped, drawing Volund, and swung foward, yanking myself back into the school and running towards Hunter's team room as he stayed behind to protect the people without weapons. They stopped at a room, walking inside, the girl went in first and locked the door behind her, speedily changing and then coming back out in a flowing pair of black pants, purple running down the sides, then the two guys walked in, the DJ came back out with the same jacket and headphones, but now had gloves on and I assumed he had put hir armor on under the hood, it now looking a lot like Hunter's, the other guy came back out. A black chest plate with red ingravings over his tux, other various armor pieces carried the same ingravings, and were over the tux as well. We ran forward, rushing to survivors, we found some, and the DJ volunteered to go with them back, we walked to Hunter's team room, and saw a kid with glowing white eyes guarding the door, he stepped aside,  
"Hurry, Milly's fading fast, her head trauma from before isn't helping, but this hit actually seemed to jog her memories," he said, and we nodded, Epsilon looked up at us, a hole in his chest sealing as we watched, Mako picked up Milly, and I grabbed Epsilon,  
"You saved my life once before, I believe it may now be the time to repay the favor," I said, channeling some of my aura like energy into him and converting Volund to chain gun form as we left the room, the grimm smelled blood, and came after us, only to be mowed down by Volund's bullets or to fall prey to the DJ's changing sword or the swift strikes of the girl. We got to the hospital as enough weapons were recovered to launch a full scale grimm wipe from the school. I placed Epsilon on a bed,  
"Thanks," he said, and I nodded, he closed his eyes and dropped into the dreamworld.

Two days later,

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

I woke and looked around, standing as soon as possible, seeing Milly on a chair nearby. I walked over to her, and touched her face, she woke, and looked at me, smiling. A nurse saw me up,  
"Oh good! This one's awake, BRING IN THE NEXT ONE!" She yelled, and Milly grinned,  
"A lot more of us than ever got hurt this time, and the hospital isn't large enough to accomodate all the injured," Milly explained as the nurse changed the sheets, I nodded, and we left,  
"You still remember me right?" I asked as we walked toward her team room,  
"I remember all of it now, that second hit seemed to jog my memory, and I liked you anyway, so why did it matter?" She said, and I shrugged,  
"You never seemed to completely trust me when you didn't have all your memories," I said, noticing that she hadn't glanced at my ear.  
"I guess you're right, but wouldn't you be suspicious if you woke up without remembering someone and they said they were your girlfriend?" She responded, and I nodded,  
"You're right, but it still hurt, and I'm glad all of you is back," I said, and she looked at me mischievously,  
"We never got to actually talk about that one time you 'saw' all of me," she said, and the smile walked off her face,  
"Your eyes, Nano faded a while ago," she said,  
"I did what I had to, besides, it's probably better this way, you were and will be the only ever, person I let see my burnt eyes,"  
"I feel like we lost a connection," She said, tears welling up,  
"I feel like the collection we had was immortalized by the fact that no one else, ever, was voluntarily allowed by me to see my eyes," I said, and she started to cry,  
"Come on Milly, don't be sad, if it takes my eyes being burnt again to make you smile, I'd do that, only for you," I tried, and she looked up, and shook her head,  
"I love you, don't hurt yourself for me," she said, and I stepped back in shock, my eyes widening, she looked up, thinking she done something wrong, and I stepped forward, wrapping her in my arms, burying my face in her shoulder,  
"No one, has ever said that to me, and I want you to know, I would give you my life, I would move mountains for you, I would part the seas to lead your way, I too, love you," I said, and she hugged me back, crying into my shoulder, we stood still for a while, she stopped crying, and even after that, I held onto her, loving everything about her, I leaned back, and looked at her, breaking the embrace, I kissed her, and she was smiling when I pulled back. We walked to her room, and I gave her a kiss goodnight and left, I got to my yeam room and looked inside, it had taken about two hours to clear up the wreckage, and another six to repair the walls and set a new window in place, but the maintenance ninjas were fast, and paid by how many jobs they got done in a day. Hunter was on his bed, and Tyler's computer had a few dents in it, but an ASUS computer laughed at non-tank munitions and Tyler was making sure that his clan's solar rail wasn't under attack. Nio was in his bed, staring at the ceiling again. I started walking to my bed when the door opened, again, and Julia poked her head in, the look on her face saying she wanted to be alone with one of us, and se didn't need to be mind readers to know who, Tyler signed off, saying good night to snowfall(Thespeaker) and we left the room, Nio remaining. We stood outside, and Hunter noticed I was watching him with my emerald green eyes, he looked around for Nano, and tilted his head quizzically,  
"Healed my eyes two days ago while Torchwick prepared to shoot my head into non-existence," I explained, and he nodded, we walked away from the room, in case they wanted to REALLY be alone.

Name: N/A Known as:Nio

"You talked," she said, her arms wrapped around her, I nodded,  
"That's my life overview,"  
"You said you, escaped, I want to know how, I want to know you." She drilled, and I nodded, but didn't say anything, she sat next to me as I closed my eyes, remembering what I'd done, tears fell from my face, and I struggled through the memory,  
"I, woke, once, in a room, I couldn't see, but I knew I was chained to a kind of pillar, they removed me from the pillar everyday, took a, mask…off me everytime, and led me to a room, they did, sirgery on me, no anesthetics, and I could feel them cut away pieces of flesh, pieces of me, they replaced it, with some fucked up tissue, artifial body mass, it produces energy by reproducing asexually, and dying quickly, inside me, it's constantly, growing, and shrinking at the same time, my body, I, take that energy, and use it, they took my lungs, and replaced them with bags of the stuff, so I could talk, but, now I find that I don't know who, what, I am, my cells no longer require oxygen, they just get energy from that, artificial tissue, so I don't need to breath, I only need to eat because whatever that stuff is, it requires corbohydrates and assorted other crap to break down and use, but otherwise, I don't need to eat, I don't know anymore, it's like I'm empty," I said, holding myself, she rubbed my back,  
"The escape," she said,  
"One day, they chained me back to the pole, and put the mask on like normal, but that day, as they did surgery on me, I snapped, I don't know how, I couldn't see still, but I killed the guard, and the one after that, I killed and killed, those men had families, had lives, they were just doing their jobs, but I killed them, I went further, somehow cutting myself from the pole, I walked into the hallway, not knowing where I was going, but something, someone, told me when to go forward, when to turn, I killed more men after that, the voice, whatever it was, the thought, from myself maybe, told me to stop, I 'saw' enemies line up in front of me, and one, the head of whatever twisted organization that was, he told me to go back to my cell, I thought nothing, so I didn't move, but sensed as a young girl, younger than I'd been, around seven or eight, the ran out of a room, but fell in front of me, crying, however I managed to kill the guards, I did it to her, using her body as a meatshield as the guards opened fire, one bullet grazed my arm, but other than that, I was untouched, I killed them all, and left, I later found that, consuming raw materials like hay or grass, was enough for the stuff inside me, so I hid in an abandoned warehouse, it had processed hay and wheat into flakes for cereal, I found what was left over to be, sufficient, and eventually the police force found me, and you know the rest." I finished, and she cried on my shoulder,  
"You don't have to cry for me," I said, trying to make her feel better, "I'm doing it enough already,"  
"I'm not crying for you, Tyler and I had had a younger sister, and my father worked for a military super soldier program."

(Hahaha, crap)  
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	42. Chapter 42:Revelations and Separations

I stood away from her, and she cried onto my bed,  
"I'd hoped it wasn't you," She managed, sobbing into the sheets.  
"Since when did you think, that…?" I asked, trailing off,  
"The day you woke up in the hospital bed with me, I noticed the tattoo on the back of your neck." She said, "and that's the worst part! I'd already fallen in love with you!" She said, and I just stared, Aries' hammer couldn't've hit me harder.

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A

I woke in the middle of the night,  
"Challenge accepted motherfucker," I said to no one, rolling over and falling back asleep.

Name: N/A Known as: Nio

"I'm sorry," I said, and she shook her head,  
"That wasn't, couldn't've been you, you said yourself you couldn't see, maybe some kind of shade like happened to Epsilon, or, or," she tried, coming uo with excuses for me, I shook my head, and sat back down next to her, she buried herself into my hoodie, she now knew what I was, what I'd done, and she, remained nearby, practically leaping into my arms? I held her against me,  
"There's no need to make excuses for me, you can go, and you said you'd never tell anyone, I'll leave you alone, I'll keep Tyler safe, but you can't stay with me, not when it hurts you like this." I tried, and she leaned back, looking at me for a second before slapping me across the face and burying her face in my chest again,  
"How dare you suggest that! I can't leave you for who you aren't!" She said, and I waited a moment, completely lost, she was mad because I killed her sister, and mad because I said she could leave me, I was at a loss for words, so I just held her, the door creaked open and Epsilon looked in, I motioned at him to go away, and he nodded, easing the door closed, she eventually stopped crying, and I still held onto her, unable to work out why she loved me, I was almost startled by a gentle snoring, she'd fallen asleep on me! I never was able to sleep anywhere where I didn't feel safe, even in the abondoned warehouse I'd known no one would attack me, either she was far more different from me then I thought, or she somehow felt safe in my arms, I laid her on my bed gently, and opened the door, Tyler walked in and saw her asleep, he beamed, and I looked at him,  
"She has trouble falling asleep anywhere that isn't her bed at home, I was gonna play her the knock out song tonight, but you took care of it, where are you gonna sleep though?" He asked, and I shrugged, Epsilon walked in and clenched his hand, three rods from his pack flew over as his eyes glowed and his body was enveloped by a black out line. They spread and formed into four legs and a metal mesh, he offered his bed to me and I shook my head, us playing rock, paper, scissors, for the better man solved the problem, and I laid on the metal mesh as Tyler covered his sister in an extra blanket, tossing me mine. I curled up on the cot, Epsilon had done his best to make it comfortable, and it's threads were so fine I couldn't pick one out of the rest, he kept them loosely meshed so that it was more like sleeping in a hammock, I stared into nothing for a while before sleep found me, pondering my sense of vertigo as a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Name: Mako Last Name: Scatterfall  
"I like you Mako, but I can't promise anything, we might make up and still be friends, or we might become more than that, but I can't guarantee the future, if it doesn't work out, you'll be the first call I make once I'm ready. But move forward, we might be together sometime, and we might not, but don' t stress over me, if it's the time, I'll come to you," Blake said, and I nodded, I left, walking back to my team's room, I walked in and saw Ian untying his shoes, I jokingly covered my nose, and he laughed, me joking around was very uncommon to him, and he positively reinforced it by laughing whenever I did make one, even if it wasn't funny, I took off my armor and grabbed a towel, heading to the showers and returning with the tux on a hanger, glad it was okay, Ian fell asleep peacefully, and I laid down on my bed, wondering what I'd done wrong, maybe I hadn't done anything wrong, maybe some cosmic force was against any of us interacting with around nine people who followed their own path, their own story line. I shrugged, and rolled over, falling asleep as Milly's familiar, and adorable, snoring became the night's soundtrack.

(So yea, that past seems more messed up than Epsilon's, but whatev, Does Tyler know that Nio is the muderer of his youngest sister? Find out next chapter, good night, we'll see the explosions tomorrow as something unexpected happens, what else, uhh, OCs(literally after this there will be no more spots for them in this series, and if I don't get one, I'll make one, Hunter, I'm counting on you) Review, PM me any questions. See, Unicorn? Julia didn't die, might(MIGHT) be saving that for later tho)

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	43. Chapter 43

Name: N/A Knowm as: Nio

I woke in the night, gentle arms around me, they lifted me, and gently placed me once again, remaining with me, legs mingled with mine, and a gentle snoring sounded from nearby, except that it was afr more feral than Julia's, she'd taken off the pendant, and I'd picked it up later, but I'd left it across the room when I came in, not thinking twice. I touched the arms, they were wrapped around me tenderly, and their fur was soft, I shuddered slightly at the thought, and feral Julia shifted, Cole had complete control over his different forms, but Julia hadn't gone through the same training, and I couldn't knew how she might react if I just activated my armor. So I waited, slowly adjusting myself now and then to get out, I was almost free, and shegrowled, and I froze, she drew me closer toward her, forcefully, and yet gently, I was once again nearly completely in her grasp, when I saw that the growl had woken Epsilon, his eyes glowed from his bed diagonal from mine, and he'd changed the cot into metal lances with his semblance, he now had them aimed at Julia, ready to spear her through, I shook my head, and Feral Julia wrapped her arm around my neck,  
"The amulet," I mouthed, pointing across the room, he nodded, and it elevated, everything but it's pendant magnetic,it floated over to me, and I put it on Feral Julia, covering her with the blanket as she changed back, the pendant glowing blue brighter than before. Her arms thinned, and the fur receded, her face had elongated during the change, and now shortened and widened into the shape of her head. She cuddled against me, us separated by a blanket, and I slowly managed to get free, and Epsilon formed the cot once again. Epsilons eyes stopped glowing after he placed the cot quietly on the floor, Julia's pendant lit the room, but, turning, I was able to fall asleep. I eventually felt Julia climb into the cot with me, shuddering. She fell asleep behind me, still wrapped in the blanket, I debated putting her back in her bed, and decided against it, she would simply come back, and probably wrap me into a more intimate position. She rolled over, and her knee length hair flowed onto me. I waited a moment, but she did nothing more, and I fell asleep once again. A piercing sound, the highest that could be made by one of Tyler's instruments, woke me, and I turned over to see Tyler with murder in his eyes,  
"You are making it soo hard, not to kill you right now," He managed, talking through his teeth and breathing heavily, Julia leapt up, holding the blanket around her at her shoulders, and said,  
"No! It was my fault, don't hurt him!"  
His bow quivered over a small instrument, but he eventually put down the instrument, staring at me with anger,  
"Why, were you, again, in bed with my sister? This time,.with her naked." He growled, and Julia both started to explain at once, but Julia couldn't work out why she was naked, so I explained,  
"Juliatookherpendantoffthedayofthedanceandyesterdaymust'vebeenenoughemotionaltraumatoreactivateherferalstate,soweputthependantbackonherandshetransformedback,onlywithoutclothes,soIcoveredherintheblanketandlaidbackinmybed," I said at light speed,  
"AndthenIwasscaredforsomereasonandIcrawledintohisbedwithhim," Julia added,  
"Is there, anyone, to prove that you and my sister didn't come up with this lie?" He nearly whispered, the anger in his eyes had cooled, and cold anger was normally far worse than hot anger, with cool anger, you had control, but are driven by an unsatiable desire to achieve a goal, hot anger controls you, and it makes mistakes.  
"Well, Epsilon helped me get the pendant," I offered,  
"Leave me out of it, but yes, Julia did indeed turn feral, I don't know when she crawled into Nio's bed though," He said from his bed(RHYMES). Tyler nodded, and his anger faded as the torquoise energy instrument powered down.  
"Honestly, I can't threaten your life at this point, because I know Julia would never let me hurt you, but, just please, try not to end up in bed with my sister, it's gonna get old, fast." He said, and I nodded.  
"Hey!" A female voice said,We heard from the door, opening it, we saw Teresa,  
"We're training, and Cole thought it might be a good idea to train together," She said, and Hunter climbed down from his bed,  
"Sure, why not?" He said, putting on his jacket and pants, then putting on his Beagles so that he had easy access to two over his shoulders and the other two near his waist, Julia started to leave with the blanket, but Tyler shook his head and got ready, then going to retrieve some clothes. I looked at a clock, 5 AM, explains why classes hadn't started, we followed Teresa to a duel room as Orion punched Aries in the face, and completed a glyph that cooked his armor, hardening it. We picked Aries up and walked off the field, placong him on the floor,  
"I win," he said smugly, Aries' ceramic armor cracked and shattered, reforming itself afterward.  
"Nice, I never would've thought to do that," He said, grinning as dust from the floor formed back into his helmet.  
"Honestly, I just tried it without thinking," Orion said, shrugging.  
We all stared at him, even us knowing that he never acted so nicely.  
"Who are you, and where is Orion?" Teresa asked, Orion shrugged,  
"I found out that I just about can't hurt Aries, so I've been going all out on him to try, and it's, relaxing," He said, and Aries looked at me,  
"You, me, sparring. I think you thought some things you're gonna regret." He said, walking back onto the field and drawing Volund. Crap, I thought, and stepped forward, activating my armor and summoning Saphire Cutter.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

I watched with interest, only once having actually seen Nio's armor suit, and that had been in the middle in a battlezone. Neon blue veins like the ones on his jacket flowed up and down his suit, circling the pauldrons and following a winding path on his back, he summoned Saphire Cutter, and transformed it from gun to sword mode. Aries walked onto the field, his gold armor gleaming, and kept Volund in chain gun form. Warming it's barrels, Nio's sword glowed brighter as Aries opened fire, blue eyes peered out from behind his visor, and he vanished, appearing next to Aries, slicing at Volund with his now six foot long energy sword, Aries stopped firing when Nio disappeared, and drew Volund back over his head, transforming it into hammer form and using it's momentum to strike upwards at Nio, who barely moved out of the way in time, then striking at Aries' exposed midsection, surprisingly, his sword glanced off his armor as Aries turned slightly. Brining his hammer back down with back breaking force, once again, Nio just in time leaned back enough to dodge, using his left hand to spring himself off the ground and slash at Aries' shoulder, chopping off his pauldron but being deflected by, whatever it was he used as an aura. Aries turned, dragging Volund on the ground for a moment before gaining enough momentum to lift it, this time finally landing a hit on Nio, his armor repaired itself as Nio was tossed across the room, skipping a couple times on the gravel before coming to a grinding stop, Aries waited a moment as Nio got to his feet, brushing some gravel off his armor and brandishing Saphire Cutter, Aries smiled,  
"Still hungry huh? Good thing Volund hosts an all you can eat buffet on wednesdays." He said, whirling Volund around him, Nio ran forward, and stopped just out of Aries' reach,  
"Oops," Orion said next to me as Aries pressed a button on Volund's hilt, extending it's length, stepping back, and pulling on it's trigger, increasing it's speed, and then flipping it over to smash Nio, who was thrown out of the training room, breaking a hole in the wall. Aries slammed Volund into the ground, leaving it and running to see if Nio was OK. Aries had pulverized the entire left side of Nio's armor, the left pauldron was missing, and only the skin suit he appeared to where underneath was intact around his midsection. He deactivated his armor, standing,  
"Ouch," he said, though almost no damage had gotten through to him,  
"Sorry, Orion would've never let that hit him." Aries said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Is your armor gonna be ok? Most people don't have armor that can repair itself," He finished, tapping on his chestplate,  
"Yea, it should be fine, I just gotta kind of let it rest for a while," He said, shrugging and dusting the rubble off of his hoodie. Aries grinned,  
"Suck on that, Orion, I just knocked this guy out of the building." He said, turning back to the hole in the wall.

(Had to get Nio back for that, and Now I'm gonna submit this set, because I dont have enough time to do two more chapters.)  
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	44. Chapter 44: The Other Grimm

"My turn," I said, stepping onto the field as Cole did as well,  
"Blind seer, I believe I can not call you that anymore," He commented, whirling his staff,  
"My name is Epsilon," I answered, extending my shields. We watched each other for a moment as Nio climbed back into the room Aries grabbed his hammer as he walked across the room, Cole's eyes twitched toward him, and looked back at me, but I was already covering the distance between us. I lunged forward, and slid as he whirled his staff to knock me out with one hit, I slashed upward, and he leaned back, rotating his staff and hitting me underhand.  
"Your new sight blinds you."  
"You've told me that before," I said as my eyes started glowing and I started using my semblance to see along with my eyes, he jumped forward, rolling and coming up right in front of me, then ducking as I attacked in a scissor like fashion, still crouched, he attacked at my legs, but I knew his move before he did it, and stepped on his staff the first time he attacked, I then kneed him in the face.  
"Sorry! In the moment!" I said, and he laughed,  
"Only Aries' hammer could deal me damage with one blow, you have not overstepped your bounds, Epsilon." I nodded, and pressed forward as he changed into an Ursa, jumping forward, I diverted upwards a horizontal swipe and stabbed at his midsection, he caught my shield and lifted me, spartan kicking me across the room, I put my shields together behind me, skidding on them for a bit, dragging my feet behind me in order to stop. As I stood, he lunged forward, roaring, I grinned, drawing my sword with my semblance, parrying his attack with the sword floating mid-air, he froze for a moment, and then continued, ignoring the sword and running toward me. He swiped at my left side, I blocked, grudgingly giving an inch before I could stop the blow, and diverted the next attack from the right, using my left shield to stab at his exposed under arm as he followed through with the attack, he grunted, but continued along with his direction, kneeing me in the side with his right knee and throwing me into his left paw, which he'd started swinging in accordance, he now had me in a corner, to dodge backward would mean I forfeit. I went through my options, discarding Nano and straight up slashing at him while blocking another strike. I grinned, using my semblance to grab my right shield, I got it in front of me, and used my semblance to shield bash, launching him back. He flipped mid-air, changing from Ursa to human to Beowulf, and sprinted towards me as I let go of my shield with my semblance and sprinted towards him, I crouched as he attacked from above, jumping up and shield bashing again, afterwards turning and slashing at his mid-section with my left shield as he was thrown up and back. His skin tight suit took the slash and laughed, and he landed and lunged toward me, headbutting me in the stomach, then rolling and attacking ferociously with his claws. I blocked, doing circular patterns with my shields, ending with a crouch and turn, slashing at his legs, his aura absorbed the damage and he was thrown to the ground. I stepped back, it was clear who was the winner, and he stood and nodded, whirling his staff as he changed back to human. We stepped off the dueling area, and Tyler and Teresa stepped on,  
"I hope we can go out more, I enjoyed that night with you." Teresa said, and Tyler blushed, Cole growled next to me. I looked at him, surprised, but then looked back at Tyler, who had started a song. As we watched, yellow armor appeared on him, translucent, but still slightly visible, he activated his dual axes, and whirled them around him, and it struck me how similarly he did it compared to Cole. Teresa reached back, selecting an arrow without looking, and put it on the string of her bow, her hood's misty design flowed as a breeze drifted in through the hole Nio left in the wall, Tyler held his dual headed axe at the ready, and she pulled back the arrow. She released it, and waited as Tyler charged forward, not bothering to deflect the arrow, which exploded when it hit the ground. She grinned, unstringing her bow, and drew her dual tomahawks from her thighs, where she wore a tomb raider like pair of leg straps and short(SHORT) black pants. She ran forward, and flowed like liquid into Tyler's guard, inbetween him and his axes, kissing him and then bringing both elbows up and into the center of his chest, pushing him back, startled, and she leaned back, hitting his axe handles behind her, disarming him. He stumbled backward for a moment, reaching into his knapsack, and pulling out a large scroll and it's bow, activating it and thrusting the endpin into the ground, she sprinted toward him, smiling at her stolen kiss. He started an intense song as she got close to him, whirling and dancing away from her around his instrument as she attacked, trying to get at him, any marks she left on the giant Double Bass disappeared next time the intrument pulsed from the scroll, and Tyler got to the climax of the song, deactivating the instrument as an explosion occurred around him, throwing Teresa back. She landed, crouching and smiling again as Tyler started a beautiful song on one of his smaller instruments, having taken it out and activated it while she was thrown back, I recognized parts of it and covered my ears. A glazed look came over Teresa's eyes,  
"Walk out of the dueling area," he said, and she did so, snapping out of it as she did so. She looked around,  
"Hey!" She said, stomping her foot, Tyler shrugged,  
"I didn't wanna fight anyway," he called, collecting the hilts of his energy axes and walking off the field. Orion stood, as did Hunter, they took up spots across from each other, Hunter drew the Beagles over his shoulders, and held them crossed, Orion drew three swords and a dagger, using the dagger to generate a couple rebound glyphs around the room.  
"What are those?" Aries asked, I answered by taking Volund and swinging it at one overhand, Volund bounced off and flew out of my incapable hands.  
"Oh," He said as Volund broke through the wall behind us.  
"How come I never see Hunter at the shooting range?" Teresa asked, still glaring at Tyler, who shrugged,  
"Once he's close enough to use the bowie knives, I doubt he'll have to aim very much." He answered, "sorry about that, by the way, I know myself that I wouldn't like to be under someone else's complete control."  
She grinned,  
"Then I take it you aren't looking for a relationship at this time?" She said, jokingly, but he said,  
"I actually am, and if you want to go out sometime…" he trailed off,  
"I would love to," she answered, giving him her scroll IP as Hunter spotted a tell, leaping forward as Orion ever so slightly limped.  
"Orion doesn't have any limp, at all," Cole whispered, concentrating on the fight in order to not get angry at Tyler. Hunter sprinted forward, ducking under a swipe from Orion's sword, him having tossed around the rest while I wasn't paying attention, Orion activated a glyph and jumped away, landing on a rebound glyph and flying past Hunter, turning and slashing mid-air. Hunter stumbled forward, and dodged as Orion rebounded twice, catching another sword, and slashed at him again. Hunter sheathed a Beagle and his shield spiraled out of his arm. Orion got him a couple more times, and Hunter ran over to a rebound glyph, switching the Beagle to Desert Eagle mode and emptying a clip into it, spraying bullets everywhere, the glyph counted out, and disappeared, Orion flew through where he was supposed to rebound from and kept going, rolling and coming up standing, smirking as he tossed one sword and caught another, then, shaking the slowfall glyph off the sword, it having been one of three original three he threw, he sprung forward. Hunter missed with a shot, bringing his shield forward and clipping the side of Orion's face with the edge. Orion grinned, blood in his mouth, him not having activated his aura, and stabbed Hunter, grimacing as Hunter did activate his aura and was merely pushed back. Hunter's shield spiraled away as he was no longer being attacked from all sides, and he stalked toward Orion. They converged, and Orion struck first, crouching and swiping at Hunter's knees, Hunter deflected with one of his knives as he switched the other to a desert eagle, shooting Orion in the arm. The bullet ricocheted off Orion's now active aura and Hunter slashed at Orion, switching the other to a Bowie knife and stabbing at his back. Orion once again caught it on his aura and his eyes blazed with anger, he dropped a sword and completed a glyph, warming the air around him, he completed another glyph, and launched an intense blast of fire at close range, Hunter managed to dodge the fireball, but his clothes were singed, and he moved forward, elbowing Orion in the face. Leaning back and dodging as Orion growled and completed a third glyph, coating his sword in ice and swiping at Hunter. Hunter drop kicked Orion, getting up quickly and summoning his sword from his sleeve for a killing blow as Orion completed a glyph from the floor and quickly chilled the air around them, using the dagger he'd drawn at the beginning of the duel to block, breaking Hunter's sword, the metal brittle from it's rapid heating and cooling, Hunter bared his teeth and drew two Beagles, shooting Orion mercilessly until Orion managed a boundary glyph, his aura just now reaching critically low levels, Hunter transformed and sheathed the beagles. Shrugging and pulling out his scroll.  
"Hey, sorry about Orion breaking your sword." Cole apologized, Hunter just shrugged again,  
"I've got another on the way, don't sweat it." He said, we showered, and went to our classes, I, meeting Milly on the way.  
"Dubstep?" She asked, finally finding time to talk about our night at the dance while we sat in Port's class.  
"Hunter's idea, besides, I thought it fit, considering I was using metal filaments to make sound." I said, shrugging and putting my arm around her with the same motion. She grinned, and poked my arm,  
"Smooth, so what do you think about Torchwick escaping?" She asked,  
"I think a wolf eared faunas guy is really mad at me," I responded, and looked a her,  
"You know any faunnas wolf eared guys?" I asked, and it was her turn to shrug,  
"No, why would I?"  
I almost made an answer that would've ended our relationship, but saved it,  
"Because you normally seem to know everything I don't." I told her, nearly having said 'well, you guys are of the same race, I just kinda group all of you together.'  
A bunch of people behind us listening relaxed, having tensed up at her return question,  
"Hmmm, sorry baby, but no wolf eared bounty hunters come to mind when going through my past boyfriends," she said, grinning and knowing what I might've said, but being happy that I'd thought enough to be considerate. I felt like there was something else I wanted to talk about but couldn't remember what it was, Nano appeared, grabbing my sword and swiping through my neck,  
"Duh," he said, sheathing my sword and dematerializing, making me remember something terrifying,  
"Humanoid grimm." I said as Milly looked around for Nano.

(So yea, You guys thought I forgot that, eh? Nope, these grimm douche bags are splits, alot like Epsilon's dark half, and I tell you this because I don't feel like doing a whole chapter on finding out what they are. A few notes, Aries' hammer could hit Nio harder than that, Review please, PM me if you want to meet my impersonation of George R.R. Martin, one OC spot. Transformers fanfic coming out, watch Citadell beat the crap out of everyone simultaneously, his name is word play, not a mis-spelling of the word Citadel, when thinking of transformers one does not think OC but if you have a cool idea for a character go ahead and tell me. What else, continuation of my previous Pokémon story, follow the life of a Bisharp that had to fight Villhelm as a challenger, next, My Alchemist's Apprentice Story is ORIGINAL meaning it will not be on but will instead be on it's counter part, FictionPress. That's it, "go ahead back to your desk" -Cave Johnson(Am I allowed to do that?))  
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	45. Chapter 45

"What?" Milly asked, looking at me in alarm, I pointed to the front of the room, where Port was talking about a humanoid form of grimm found out in front of the school,  
"These grimm can pass off as humans while completely covered in some kind of garment, their bodies are covered in fur and they have a grimm like armor mask, this is a grave day indeed, when the grimm have grown this close to looking like us, it may soon come, that the scum of our world will begin looking like them," He said, finishing solemnly, but perking up and saying,  
"I would like you all to report a current event on these grimm, showing them in action, pictures required, videos encouraged, you have a week to complete this project, and the highest scoring paper gets a day off extra, you are dismissed." He said, rearranging some papers on his desk,  
"That class went by fast," Milly said, looking at a clock and realizing we'd been talking alot more than she or I noticed. We went to Ooblecks room, and he was reviewing the great war, I paid mild attention, but was forced to take notes now, since I permanently had eyes. I learned quickly how to write, and did so easily, discovering in surprise that I could write with both hands equally well.  
"Ambidextrous, cool," Milly said, noticing my wonder.  
"I can move mountains, and you think me being able to write with both hands is cool?" I asked jokingly,  
"It's cool because it's just one more thing I know about you," she said, and kissed me. Quickly going back to taking notes as Oobleck appeared at my side.  
"Craaaaap," I said as he handed me a slip, assigning extra readings and an essay, I looked at him for a moment, tired, and said,  
"Professor, you wouldn't happen to have some coffee left over would you?"  
He walked(teleported) to the corner of the room, where three coffee pots were brewing simultaneously and came back, somehow managing to not spill a single drop of the sweet nectar and gave it to me,  
"I brew it strong Epsilon, tell me if it's too much." He said, and appeared back at the front of the room.  
I poked Milly, took a sip, and went back to writing, in physical training, I instead went to the weapons forge, and looked into getting my shields a gun form, but found only one I liked. I modified them correctly, and also made them able to shrink down a bit more and rotate to follow my arms. I now had to use my semblance to lift them whenever I had them on, the extreme anti-aircraft rounds I installed waying heavily, one shot each, but it was better than having more and wasting my aura shooting. I went to the shooting range, seeing Teresa,  
"Hey, you wanna explain how this works?" I asked, gesturing at the targets pretty far away. She nodded,  
"Five minute shooting windows, followed by five minutes of people collecting munitions, when that light is green," She said, pointing at a light, "It's ok to shoot, when it's red, stop, and go collect your projectiles. Why did you wanna know? I don't see any guns on you." She asked, and her eyes widened as I extended my shields, the anti-air/anti-tank guns weighing heavily. She looked at them for a moment before walking backwards and saying,  
"Your funeral,"  
I shrugged and braced one on my knee, aiming it with my semblance, and pulling a trigger on the handle, a round as long as my calf and as thick as my head was launched out of the barrel with an explosion, completely destroying a target, "not a bull's eye, but definitely not bad." I thought as I was thrown backward, smashing into the wall behind me.  
"Noted," I said, pulling the shield from the wall with some difficulty as the light turned red. I walked over and looked at the huge bullet. It had continued through the target and was in the wall. I yanked it from it's resting place with my semblance and walked back as it cooled.  
"You could've said something," I told Teresa, pointing at the imprint I left in the wall when I was thrown back.  
"I did," she said simply, and I took aim again with the other shield, this time holding the shield in place with my semblance as I fired my left bullet, waiting for the other one to cool. It slammed through the target with greater velocity than before, none of it's energy wasted by throwing me back, it continued through the wall, and I winced as it broke through. I shouldn't've worried, the maintenance ninjas knew this room well, and dodged bullets on the way to fixing the hole and tossing my anti-tank bullet into the room with smith gloves. I waited for the bullets to cool, and loaded them back into the shields afterwards. Going to go work out so I could carry them without help from my semblance.

(Ha, get away from Epsilon now, Torchwick, he'll shoot down your carrier ship, and the four behind it with those bullets. Wouldn't it suck if it hit someone tho, Nio, maybe? We'll see, but what are the other guys doing now eh?)

Name: N/A Known As: Nio

"Bleeeeeggghhh." Hunter said, bored out of his mind while Port babbled on about humanoid grimm in our first class of the day. It was interesting, but by now we took everything he said with a grain of salt because of his tendency to rant. He gave us our Jackelope hunt due on July 32 and dismissed us, we trudged to physical training, not being machines like Epsilon, and tiredly sparred and worked on our weapons, trudging back to the room and trying to go to sleep afterward. Epsilon jogged into the room, his lean and mean abs and arms gleaming with sweat,  
"Guys! Check out these sick guns!" He said, and I assumed he was flexing his muscles, so I managed to to humor him, my eyes widening as I noticed his shields sprouting barrels I could fit in.  
"What, the fuck, are those?" Hunter asked, his eyes bulging out of his head, Epsilon walked over to the window, and lifted the right one with his semblance, opening the window and aiming through it.  
"SICK GUNS!" He yelled over the ringing in our ears that followed the explosion of him firing the anti-aircraft round into the sky. He made another bullet from the rods in his backpack, holotip, and loaded the gun again. Compressing his shields and putting them down, they required an apparent loss of mass to do so and sunk into the floor.  
"Please don't fire anti-tank rounds inside the school." Goodwitch said over the intercom.  
"Oops," Epsilon said, shrugging and walking to the bathroom, getting ready to shower.  
"How are you so awake?" Tyler called, even him having trouble with staying conscious.  
"AskedOobleckforacupofcoffee,hemakesreallygoodcoffee,whydidIjustdownthatwholecup?whycanIseenoises?whyisOobleck'shairgreen?" He said, and Hunter pulled out a desert eagle and shot him.  
"Shut up," he groaned, and Epsilon nodded, having sidestepped the bullet. He then flew into the hallway and towards the showers. He came back into the room at light speed, and was about to say something when he stopped moving so quickly and dropped to the floor, out cold.  
"Thank you, caffeine crash." Hunter said, and went to sleep. I conked out too, done with today and hoping my armor would be repaired by tomorrow. I saw Tyler roll out of his bed and flop to the floor. He stood and scratched his head.

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia

I leaned on the wall, heading to Oobleck's room, I got there, but noticed he wasn't around, so I walked over to one of the coffee pots and poured myself a cup, sipping it until I felt better, careful not to drink the whole thing, knowing what happened to Epsilon, I then walked to the airship departure area, where Teresa said she would meet me, and got a message on my scroll,  
"SORRY! Cole said it would be a good time to practice a while ago, so we headed into the emerald forest, and we're still a couple hours of walking away from the school, we can meet up and go out once I get back, so go find something else to do until we get back, I'll meet you in the same spot! XOXO Save yourself for me!"  
I messaged her back,  
"Nah it's fine I'm feeling really tired, let's reschedule for tomorrow, work hard practicing and tomorrow we can go out for ice cream or something."  
She sent back an affirmation and sent a picture of her kissing, and I couldn't help but notice Cole scowling in the background.

The Next Day, same time,

"SORRY! Cole saw an Ursa Major yesterday, but it got away from him, and we can't just let it roam the forest so now we're back where we were yesterday looking for it!"  
"Ok, go ahead and kill that thing, we can just try again tomorrow." I messaged, knowing exactly what was going on and hating Cole for putting me in this position, I hadn't even bothered heading to the meeting point because I knew this would happen. I fumed for a few moments, and eventually came up with a plan.

The Next Day,

Four people were climbing down the cliff just after classes, and I was waiting at the bottom,  
"Hello!" I said cheerily as Cole came into view. He hesitated, and moved forward as if he hadn't,  
"Musician, in the forest alone? What brings you here?" He asked as his team followed behind, Teresa saw me, and ran over, giving me a hug,  
"Oh nothing, you guys've been training a lot lately, huh?" I said over her shoulder, her ears near my chin,  
"Hey! We saw a Death-Stalker today and were gonna go hunting it, you wanna come?" She asked, pulling back and looking up at me.  
"A Death-Stalker eh? I've known Epsilon to kill those single handedly, I'm sure Orion could do the same," I said innocently,  
"It's always prudent to be cautious, musician," Cole said, seeing what I was doing and trying to stop me.  
"Ah, but two extra hunters and a beautiful huntress there for what one could do on his own? And am I hearing things, or are you doubting your ferocious berserker, Orion?" I said, grinning slightly maliciously, but feeling bad at the same time,  
'Don't,' I said to myself, 'he put himself in this position by not making a move earlier,'  
He glared at me, but Orion was already charging ahead, into the forest. He followed, and so did Aries. Teresa looked at me,  
"You didn't just…?" She asked, trailing off, and I shrugged,  
"Tell the truth and free up a beautiful girl for a night so we could go on a date? I did, I believe," I said, smirking and leading her back up the cliff.

(So, ouch, moving on)

We stepped onto the airship, and it brought us down to Vale, nightfalling as we got off, we walked through town, and we stopped and got ice cream, as promised, we sat at a table and talked,  
"So what kind of fox do you have ears like?" I asked, and she grinned and shook her head,  
"I guess they look like fox ears, but they are actually from a type of dog,"  
"Sweet! What kinda dog?" I asked, always having been a dog person.  
"Look to me like wolf ears." An enormous man said behind her, I saw a spiked gauntlet covering his left hand, and wolf ears on his head, larger, and slightly more floppy than Teresa's, but still a lot alike.  
"Oh that's so cool! I've never met anyone with ears like mine!" She said, turning around and looking up at him,  
He smiled ever so slightly at her excitement, and held up a lost poster,  
"You see this kid?" He said, pointing at a picture of Aries, I shook my head, but Teresa said,  
"Yea! He's a hamner wielder in my team at Beacon! Why?" She asked seeing the picture but not the reward for any informtaion leading to his retrieval. The wolf eared faunas grinned, and walked away, calling the number on the poster. I grabbed Teresa's hand and led her back to the airships, we got on board and rode up to Beacon,  
"You okay? You're acting weird," she said, and I pulled out my scroll and looked at Aries' contact, seeing that he was offline, but his GPS locator said he was in the emerald forest. I ran to the cliff, no light to guide my way down the path, I grimaced, and checked my scrolls, jumping over the edge and creating a rebound glyph at the bottom of the cliff, I landed on it and flew toward him, the glyph slightly increasing my momentum as I rebounded and launched over the trees.

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A

Alarms went off in my head, but I attributed them towards the death-stalker claw flying towards me, I sidestepped and mashed it into the ground as a Combat Ready CO. Carrier dropped in from over head,  
'How did they find me?' I thought as I futiley sprinted away, only to be speared by one of my sister's swords. I grimaced, angry at my failure to get away, pain non-existent to me. I was pulled to the carrier, and had left Volund on the ground, I got close to the carrier, and called it to me, using it's momentum to rotate and slam the underside of the jet propelled aircraft. The attack was parried by one of Penny's swords, and I looked up, seeing her face, but not my sister, her eyes were red, and her face was expressionless, they got me inside, and released both of us, I from the sword, and her eyes went back to normal and she started crying at what they'd forced her to do. They restrained me, and repaired me, replacing Volund's tracker, and putting me into sleep mode against my will. I could still see, my eyes not being closed, but I was paralyzed, I would've grinned as Epsilon landed on the ship, it dipped with his weight, and I wondered what munitions he was carrying to make him weigh that much.  
"Awww, I was hoping you guys were white fang, but it doesn't matter, no matter who you are, stealing my friends, or trying to, deserves a bit of punishment," He said as he kinda shrugged, and his shields extended, now with large barrels on the sides, he lifted them with slight difficulty and held their sharp edges against the throats of some of the corporate owners,  
"Don't worry, it's against who I am to kill others, your ship on the other hand," he said, moving the shield away from their necks and pointing it at one of the engines,  
"Most likely isn't alive(Challenge accepted -Citadell), so, we are going to land in front of the school, and you are gonna decide to tell us why you just tried to kidnap Aries here," he said while Penny's eyes turned red again and she jumped toward him, knocking him out of the ship along with her. They were falling, but Epsilon found time to let off an explosion and utterly destroy one of the engines, the ship spiraled out of control, we were gonna land, whether or not they wanted us to.

Name: James Known as: Epsilon

"Are you crazy?!" I yelled over the roar of the wind as we hurtled toward the ground,  
"Kill!" She responded, and I flipped out from under her, jumping off her and firing the other anti-aircraft shot at the ground. Not to hit her, but as propulsion, and to make sure I wasn't too heavy for Milly to lift, as I sensed her approach, she caught me, and we descended towards the ground, watching from above as the insane girl flipped and landed kneeling, looking straight up at us as swords flipped out from her back and flew toward us.  
"Crap," Milly and I said simultaneously as we recognised her from the docks a while ago. We hurried toward the ground and I rolled as Milly dropped me from a few feet up, calling Nano and giving him my sword with my semblance. She attacked at Nano as I rushed forward. He parried 16 attacks and watched in dismay as the epsilons on the sword lit up one by one, he ducked as it got full and ran toward her, trailing the sword through the floor behind him to waste energy. He parried another couple attacks as I came across the round I'd fired at the floor, I reloaded my right shield and used my semblance to carry the loaded shield, I slashed at her with my left one(the unloaded one) and she leaned back, barely dodging but not ready for me to turn around and slash again with the much heavier one, hitting her harder diagonally upwards. She was thrown back and I braced my right shield using my semblance, aiming at her as her eyes turned green.  
"Don't!" Someone yelled, but I'd already pulled the trigger, and a flash of light occurred in front of me, Aries stood there, swinging his hammer and hitting the anti-tank round mid-air. He kneeled, resting, and I watched as his armor got black detsiling and Volund turned completely gold with black decals. The carrier was still going down, and I raised a hand, stopping it, and placing it on the ground nearby, the people I'd threatened earlier stepped from the remains of the carrier, one by one, the last one, obviously the chairman, walked out, slow clapping,  
"Typical," Milly said as she landed next to me, the feathers on her wings glowing brightly.  
"Well done, J-3000, I was not quite sure whether or not we would get results from you, but, seeing as we did, I don't think we'll decide to, discontinue, your older model," the man said, gesturping at Penny, "After all, we did build both of you, to be more than what you were when you started, whether J-2999 will ever achieve that goal is yet to be seen, but you doing so, here, it makes me wonder, what would be to happen, if I paid this hunter extreme amounts of money to put another anti-tank round towards her." He said,  
"No amount of money is worth a life," I said, disgusted that he thought he could get me to kill someone.  
"Then it's a good thing that Penny over there isn't alive, she's being remote controlled, from miles away," He explained,  
"Why should I believe you?" I asked,  
"We've done our homework, James, use your gift, and I'm sure you'll see that we moved Penny's mind from that body long ago." He said calmly, and I gasped, but then concentrated, seeing that Penny was indeed being controlled from far away, or so it looked, there was a part of her head I couldn't detect at all,  
"I can't be sure, so I won't, now what are you going to do? Try to take Aries, or what?" I growled, angered by this man for no reason,  
"Because of these results, we will leave Aries here, under the circumstances that he not remove Volund's tracker again. We will take Penny, and restore her mind to that body, keeping close watch on her, but we will most likely give her more freedom." He finished and beckoned at Penny, who had just woken, she ran to her brother, hugging him, and I didn't mean to, but I 'saw' her lips move as she said,  
"Be strong,"

He nodded, and she ran to the chairman, standing at his side as another carrier appeared. They all stpped on, and it took off. Aries looking longingly at it, but then his face hardened, and he looked at me,  
"How did they find m-?" He started as Tyler fell from the sky and slammed into him.  
"Most likely something to do with that," I said, holding back a laugh as I saw Teresa follow suit, landing on top of both of them. They started to separate when Aries exploded in light, and appeared far above our heads,  
"Was that the, snap back?" I asked as he fell from above, eating some soil when he landed. Having developed a second semblance.

(So yea, a 'yes, B-Mo, I built you, to Be More,' moment and a resolution to the idea that Aries is being looked for, they wanting Aries to keep his tracker and they 'ask me to do everything!' From Penny might some way be linked,  
(Solo mission times) so we'll see what happens, (although I just told you what will happen) uhhh, One OC spot(in all honesty tell me your appearance and personality and I'll give you a weapon and put you in a team), Review, PM me for spoilererz, and check out my new fanfic in the transformers universe, I think the films left something to be desired with focusing so much on the human part and will start with a badass Nanotechnology autobot with the strength to pound Megatron into the floor with ease, guess what his name is, come on, guess, he accepted a challenge earlier, and you guessed it! His name is Citadell, a play on words, not a misspelling. Not many characters come to me with transformers, just base, flat, and predictable ones, but I came up with three and I don't feel like I could do more, so PM me with a character idea or OC, wow this was a long chapter, please look forward to seeing Tyler and Alejandra in stories by Dust-redeemer, the donator of Mako Scatterfall, so check him out)  
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	46. Chapter 46: The Super Soldier

Name: Cole Last Name: None

I walked into physical training with my team, angry at myself,  
'Why did I do that? She isn't mine like Larissa was, I have no right,' part of me said,  
'You have every right, she's on your team, and you can understand her better than that buffoon ever could, you should continue, and keep her from him,' a darker, more selfish side of me responded,  
'No, let them carry on, if it doesn't work out, be there for her, and maybe it'll work out.' The first side of me won, and I glared at Orion as he taunted his sparring partner, a huge, broadshouldered, ginger haired giant, he was covered in freckles, and dual scythes hung at his sides as he breathed heavily,  
"You're too fat to hit me, why don't you just give up?" Orion asked, flying past him as the other activated his aura, a red orange like his hair, and that was when things started going wrong for Orion, the ginger haired kid's aura changed color, becoming crimson, and his eyes blazed with hate. Orion flew past him again and he dropped his left scythe, grabbing Orion's sword, his aura now inactive, and threw Orion to the ground, his hand bleeding, he grabbed the scythe he dropped, and flipped Orion into the air, using his scythes as levers, flipping them quickly and slamming Orion back into the ground, he then kicked Orion across the room, and lunged forward, spinning his scythes in his hands behind him, he got to Orion, and held them both up to attack again, but as he attacked downward, his aura changed back to it's ginger color as he activated it to heal his hand, and he pulled back slightly, landing the scythe next to Orion's neck, standing straight and walking away, his scythes folded up, the blades touching the hilts and he hooked them to the sides of his chain covered jeans, Julia watched from the other side of the room, and scowled at Orion.

(Holy crap, Hunter didn't fuck up Orion's shit that quickly, who is this new powerhouse? Why is Julia mad at Orion for getting him mad enough to let Sen(his third personality) out? You guessed it, because they're on the same team, who are the other members of her team? What could that guy's second personality be? When am I gonna stop asking these stupid questions?)

Julia ran after him as he exited the room, I followed as well, and we found him in the weights room, lifting a bench press up and down, lifting the entire thing, having put as many weights on it as possible and it still not being heavy enough. His eyes flashed blue when he saw Julia, and flashed red when he saw me, then returning to their hazel/light green color, and he ignored us, going back to his workout. Epsilon noticed, and walked over,  
"Uhh, hey, I think they're trying to talk to you," He said, and poked him. The ginger haired guy ignored him too, continuing with his work out, so Epsilon rolled his eyes and activated his semblance, pressing down on the bench press, the kid grinned, but continued, unhindered by Epsilon, who has shocked for a second, and then concentrated, pressing down harder, the guy's muscles bulged, and he continued, still yet ignoring us. Epsilon stopped and stared at the kid in disbelief,  
"Holy crap, what the heck are you made of?" He asked,  
"Steel, actually," Julia said matter of factly,  
"Huh?"  
"He's part of the super soldier work my dad is doing, they infused his bones with steel, so now, he can pick up the mountains you could move and carry them underseas to fill some or other trench down there." She explained,  
"So, what's he doing at Beacon?"  
"My dad thought it would be a good idea, and he's on my team, so it's really easy for them to keep an eye on him."  
Recognition dawned on me,  
"He's your partner from the emerald forest,"  
She nodded,  
"He doesn't talk much, especially when his eyes are red, then he just goes around killing stuff, but when his eyes are blue he's really friendly." She said, shrugging,  
"So what do we do?"  
"We wait until he calms down, that douche bag Orion made him mad, and now anyone else nearby will be annoying." She told us, and walked away, we did the same.  
'A super soldier program?' I wondered as I walked away, 'that person is definitely not normal, something is weird, as if I'm trying to read the habits of three people at once' I shrugged off my thoughts and walked back to the physical trainging and sparring room, seeing Orion sitting alone, hunched over, looking at the floor, I walked over, and asked the question that needed to be asked, although I already new the answer,  
"What's wrong?" I questioned, sitting next to him,  
"I'm not sure why, but everything, just keeps beating the crap out of me, it's crazy, I should've been able to kill that death-stalker easily, I grew up pulling them apart with my bare hands, and now, Hunter, Epsilon, and now even that new kid straight up thrashed me."  
"You technically beat Epsilon," I said,  
"Pffft, we all know who was the actual winner of that fight, despite whatever BS Goodwitch came up with, I came here expecting to float through, K. people left and right, instead, I get here, and everyone else is just as good, if not better, than I am." He said, and I was startled, insecurity that I'd seen coming was revealing itself, but to me? I expected him to talk to Teresa maybe, or even Julia by a longshot, I thought quickly,  
"Well, if you look at it, all the odds were stacked against you, Epsilon is a second year here at Beacon, Hunter seems like he's been trained all his life to fight a mighty foe, and that kid over there has steel infused with his bones, you're normal, you're not, altered, or older, you just have your experience, and maybe you can't expect to fight other students, you have experience in the field of killing grimm, so maybe that's what you, we, should do." I said,  
"So how can you excuse that Death-Stalker surviving longer than ten seconds?" He asked, and I looked at him,  
"Tyler, he goaded you, he made you angry, but not the good anger, not the cold anger you're used to having, the hot one, and he did the same to me." I said, looking down,  
"Why did he do that?" Orion asked, now looking at me,  
"Because I made the same mistake, twice, and had tried to do it a third time that day," I said, standing and walking away, arguing with myself again.

(So yea, started introducing the characters for Julia's team, that new guy is ridonkulously strong, even Epsilon's semblance no match for him, gonna do a follow up chapter and slowly introduce the other two Characters, one an OC, and with that, we are out of OC spots, me using an extra for, something else, so be ready to meet them, and then we can actually begin the story, following V2 and hopefully the tournament, considering my info guy is being stingy with info. Review, PM me.)


	47. Chapter 47

Name: Senryo Last Name: N/A

Leaving the bench press behind, I left the room, headed for the emerald forest. I drew Nessi and slashed through a tree, venting my anger, it's chrome blade slid through the tree easily, flashing shades of blue and pink as it went through, the serene face that was the base of it's blade seemed to frown upon my anger, but when I inspected it, it was smiling yet again. I collapsed my left scythe and drew my right one, Sen, I slashed through the same tree and it's face of rage seemed to grin as it cut through the trunk completely, I almost heard it laughing as I collapsed it and braced it on my left forearm, launching shrapnel into the tree, which fell back and knocked down another,  
"Hey!" I heard from behind the tree, I heard a chaingun start shooting and a paladin in gold armor appeared next to me, swinging a hammer, it smashed into me and I budged an inch, and glared at him, taking out both scythes at once and turning toward him, shaking my head,  
"Wrong day to mess with the wrong guy," I said, and grabbed his armor collar, lifting him up, space whirled around us, and we were in a different spot, but I didn't care, I uppercutted him and he flew into the sky, falling back down, he landed crouched, and looked up at me,  
"My name is Aries," He said, and swung his hammer at me,  
"They call me Senryo," I responded, catching it and throwing him back, he whirled it around him, and jumped toward me, I whirled Nessie and Sen, he angled his body diagonally and turned, bringing the hammer down on me, an all out attack, and Nessie seemed to smile, my eyes turned blue and I sidestepped, then lunged toward him, he drew back his hammer as my eyes flipped to red, he attacked, and I crouched underneath the weapon and slashed at his mid-section with Sen, it ripped through his armor like it was paper, and he stumbled backwards, I raced closer to him and attacked again as he managed to get his hammer in front of him, barely blocking my attack. I edged around him, flipping Sen into collapsed mode, and aimed it at his head,  
'Don't do it, this is probably a misunderstanding,' Nessie said,  
'He attacked you first, he might deserve it, but Nessie could be right,' Sen added, so I breathed out, and stepped back,  
"You have about ten seconds, before I decide I don't care about your story, and start to like the idea of the plan to blow your brains out, you got that?" I demanded, hooking Nessie and Sen in place. He nodded, and stood, brushing himself off as his armor reformed around his stomach,  
"I am Aries, paladin, but I obviously need some training if a random passerby could beat the snot out of me."  
"Snot? What are you? Six? I'm Senryo, pleasure to meet you," I said grudgingly, and offered a hand,  
'Great, maybe he's not such a bad guy,' Nessie told me,  
'Or he's waiting for the perfect time to strike.' Sen countered, they fell silent, and the paladin took my hand, standing up and looking around.  
"So, whatcha doin' here in the emerald forest?" He asked, his helmet collapsing back to show a face that Nessie gushed over,  
"Just venting some anger, sparring partner decided to try using some banter while having a go at me from all sides." I responded, shrugging.  
"Oh, your sparring partner wouldn't be Orion, would it?" He asked,  
"Yea, you know 'im?" I responded,  
"He's on my team,"  
"Lucky you,"  
"Yea, he doesn't like my jokes all that well, but, I digress, who's on your team?" He questioned, and I glared at him,  
"I think I'd like to know your team first, and then I'll think about telling you about them," I said, and he shrugged as Nessie told me,  
'That was stupid! We should just trust him!'  
'Or we could fight those incoming death-stalkers' Sen said maliciously as a claw burst from the trees and mashed my new friend into the ground as he flashed with light,  
I turned, and it attacked again, and again, with a third claw at where I was standing,  
'Third claw?' I thought as another appeared behind me, a chain gun sounded above me and I looked up, rolling to the right, Aries fell from the sky and mashed the sharp edge of his hammer into the beast's head, killing it instantly, he flashed again and appeared where the claw was, his spacial distort ability discharged and moved him out of the solid object, teleporting him to my left, he stood for a moment before falling, unconscious. I drew my scythes and stood over him, blocking another claw strike, it grinded against my scythes but I stood my ground, and threw Nessie into it's head, lodging the scythe into it's mask,  
'My turn,' Sen said,  
(WHENEVER, Sen is around, expect it to get a little gory, because that guy is insane, and when handed a shotgun scythe, there will be blood, lot's of it)

Name: Sen Last Name: N/A

I jumped forward, leaving behind the useless one and landing on the scythe Senryo had thrown, driving it deeper into it's skull, I landed and quickly sprung over it, landing on it's head and slamming down yours truly into a chink of it's armor, I ripped myself from it's back, levering the blade to cause the most damage, it swiped at me with it's stinger and I caught it, bringing my scythe back up and severing it, flipping Nessie out of it's skull and throwing it at the base of it's tail, severing that as well, it struck at the useless body on the ground in anger, slamming down nearby and launching him in a tree, Senryo winced, as did Nessie, but I went forward, the best way to help him would be to take care of the threat. I flipped under the death-stalker, gripping it's head, and slashed at it's unarmored underside, showering me in blood, I flipped my scythe into shotgun mode and unloaded a few rounds into it before dropping the scythe and lifting it, standing, I threw it onto the fallen tree, skewering it, I grinned as it's blood soaked the wood, and picked up Nessie, hooking it in place and stepping out of the way for Senryo.

Name: Senryo Last Name: N/A

"Gross," I said, wiping the blood off my arms and looking back at the paladin, whose unconscious form had slammed into a tree and fallen to the ground. I walked over and nudged him with my foot, he groaned,  
"Ouch,"  
"You haven't been able to spatial distort for long have you?" I asked, and he shook his head, looking up and asking,  
"What tipped you off?"  
'The fact that any distorter with a brain clears his snapback area before he does so.' Sen thought, Nessie made no comment,  
"The snap back would cause a pretty much atomic explosion if you snap back into something, two atoms occupying the same space doesn't do well for not breaking apart one of them and causing such an explosion, so you snapping back into a solid object means your semblance goes on alert mode and teleports you somewhere unoccupied, without a snapback, but that consumes most of your aura," I explained, picking him up over my shoulder and walking back towards the school,  
"Let me down," he said groggily, and I shook my head,  
"I think you'll find that you can barely move." I told him, finding Orion and asking him where his room was, he glanced at Aries and pointed in the correct direction, I walked in and dropped Aries on the bed not occupied with feathers and tribal symbols, arrows, or swords.  
"Thanks," he said as I walked away, my eyes flashed blue,  
"Anytime," I said, and closed the door.

(I'll call that a chapter, it's got everything, an explanation or two, a gory spot, and the introduction of three characters at once, so that's cool, um, a good friend of mine let me straight up drop him into the story, so thanks for that, the rest of Julia's team is coming up, so expect them when I get home,(2 days), Review, it's the only reward I get from this, getting better, PM me for questions or story advice, suggestions always welcomed, any story ideas? Send 'em in, cuz I always get story blocked(no writers block, but I hear that sucks) after introducing characters)


	48. Chapter 48: The Jungle, and Comptetition

(Who do you think it is? Honestly, just like, READ for ten sentences and it should be obvious ) Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap' I thought, sprinting through a forest, dodging left and right, Saphire Cutter grinding against a tree here or there, but these trees were different from the ones in the enerald forest, they had vines and moss on them, I was in a jungle, Saphire Cutter's light showed the enemy, the hunter chasing me, where I was, but it didn't matter, I was glowing a strange blue color, and even without Spahire Cutter and my armor, I would've been seen regardless, I looked behind me, hearing him slam through trees to get at me, I was looking backwards at him when I slammed into the base of a cliff that appeared from nothing, I fell backward, turning around, and my helmet sent off alarms, approaching enemy too strong to fight, he got to me, his chest rising as he breathed heavily, his scythes gleamed in the moonlight, he offered his hand, his eyes shining blue, I took it, he snarled as his eyes turned red, and he pulled me up, slashing at me with his right scythe.  
I woke, gulping air, and slammed my head on the roof, they all groaned and Epsilon flipped the sign on the wall that said,

"3 days without incident," to, "0 days without incident,"

It was saturday, and we had planned to go and complete that assignment Port had given us, I climbed down from my bed, putting on the glove required to summon Saphire Cutter and my armor, wondering why I'd taken it off.

Name: Jake Last Name: N/A

"Blurgh, why do we have to bother with this stupid jungle?" Julia asked, swatting flies away as Senryo let off an aura discharge, killing all of them in the radius.

"This is the natural habitat of these humanoid seeming grimm, turns out they're more like monkeys than humans," I called back, shrugging and stabbing my staff into a tree, climbing onto it and grabbing a vine, then taking the staff out of the tree and strapping it to my back, I scaled the tree, and got to the top, feeling like I was being watched, I turned, and saw a guy staring at me, black hair, black eyes, red and rust colored robes over a skin tight metal fiber suit, a wooden staff similar to mine in his hand,

"A, volatile, way to climb a tree, one that shows little respect toward nature," he commented, and I scowled,

"Why should I respect nature? It has plagued our world with this grimm," I growled, and he stepped forward, going from one branch to another, and getting to a canopy of leaves,

"Because nature respects you," He answered, moving aside the branches to show me a large part of the jungle, a pretty view, but I only saw a prey, I drew my staff and pressed a button on it, the staff became curved and a string of purple energy connected it's two ends, I pulled back an arrow, and launched it, a rope trail of aura following it. The arrow got stuck in the side of a nevermore, and I grinned, yanking myself out of the tree by the rope, and swinging around, flipping up and landing on the back of the nevermore, it cawed and tried to look at me. I held onto it's feathers and looked down, seeing the trees in Senryo's path fall as he got bored of going around them, an angel flew from the canopy of near lime green trees, she was beautiful, black and gold armor covered her legs and chest, leaving her midsection bare, wings with white feathers lifted her toward me, and I barely noticed explosions behind me, I did however notice as the nevermore dipped when something heavy landed on it, I heard a sigh behind me,

"She really is beautiful," He said, and walked over, the nevermore shuddering with his every step, my left ear flicked at his sudden appearance, and I turned,

"Who are you?" I asked, glaring at him, already feeling protective of the beautiful faunas, he grinned, and his body glowed with a black out line, a pair of rods floated from his backpack as his emerald eyes glowed, the rods formed into bullets, huge ones, and he reloaded his anti tank guns,

"I, am Epsilon, her," He said, pointing at the angel, "boyfriend," He finished, and I scowled, she landed nearby, and she walked over,

"Who's your friend?" She asked with a melodious voice, and my heart melted a little, he noticed me staring and leveled one of the guns at me,

"Who, are you exactly?" He asked, stepping in front of the angel,

"Jake, just Jake," I said, snapping out of it as I looked into the depths if the cannon, I kept getting distracted by her flowing, glowing, light brown hair, and found the black and gold armor on her dirty red colored ears to be adorable.

"Hey!" He said, snapping his fingers to snap me out of it, "Milly, I think yer gonna put this guy in a coma, I'll meet you back on the ground, Okay?" He said, looking at her, she nodded, a fell backwards off the bird before flipping and using her wings to circle to the ground,

"So Milly's her name," I said breathlessly, watching her form glide to the ground, he looked at me,

"Yes, and competition is not something I like, so keep your eyes to yourself, and maybe we can be friends," He said, his shields shrinking down and collapsing into non-existence, he just asked a drowning man to find a breath of air underwater, but I shrugged,

"I'll do my best,"

"Excellent, now let's get to killing this nevermore eh?" He said as someone appeared on it's head, the person's eyes blazed with a green light,

"On it!" The new person called, slicing through it's neck and disappearing. We started going down,

"Thanks Nano!" He called jumping off and aiming the shields at the ground as they reappeared. He got close to the ground and fired one, stopping him in mid air completely, but forcing him to flip around and fall out of control, I looked around, not much to work with, but grinned, I ripped some of the feather from the bird and, using my semblance, quickly contructed a glider using my staff in bow form. Gliding down and landing next to Senryo,

"Show off," he said, picking up and throwing a tree that was in his way. I shrugged, and kept looking for those monkey like grimm, and for where that angel had landed.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

"What do you think of that guy?" I asked Milly, making a new bullet for my right shield,

"He's kinda cute," She said, and I glared at her for a moment, "But his weird hair threw me off, rainbow bangs? What is he? A pony?" She finished, and I remembered his mostly white hair that ended in a rainbow colored pattern, I shrugged,

"I bet I could take him in a fight," I reasoned as Milly's team mates approached,

"Still looking for a fight with me?" Ian asked, grinning,

"Nah, Hunter could take you," I teased, pushing him into a tree as the rest of my team appeared, Hunter shrugged, having heard the last statement,

"Probably," He commented,

"Oh, it's on, I challenge thee!" Ian said, nudging Hunter with his elbow as he pushed off from the tree, we walked for a while before we encountered the first specimen, it felk upon us, and I shot it by reflex, we looked at it's pulverized remains,

"Think that would count for the current event?" I asked, it's entire head and torso were gone, it's legs and arms were all that remained, Hunter shook his head,

"It looks alot like a beowulf now, unload the other gun so that it doesn't happen again," He said, and I nodded, hoping that doing so wasn't a mistake(IT WAS). We continued, and I kept my scroll out, taking a video, we saw three more and started heading back, Alejandra throwing knifed one and we were able to take pictures, we also described it's habits and attack patterns, night fell, and Nio lit the way with Saphire Cutter, it would've been simple, easy, if a tree hadn't fallen on the carrier to bring us back, destroying it.

"Craaaaaap" I said as assorted, strange, grimm surrounded us and the wreckage. One leapt toward me, and I aimed a shield at it, skewering it, and then throwing it to the side, the quadriped grimm landed and skidded for a second, looking back at me and snarling, I leapt forward and sliced off it's head while it howled, the grimm attacked, large moquitoes with grimm helmets flew down upon us, as Mako pulled the pilot out of the destroyed carrier and lit the ship aflame, giving us light, and Nio did his best to shoot the mosquitoes one by one, Tyler shook his head, and gestured at everyone to cover there ears, pulling out his Viola and playing that same, shrill note, the mosquitoes exploded, and we went back to fighting the main threat, whereas the grimm we fought most often were heavy and hard hitting but slow, these struck many times with a single attack, we killed them one by one, but suddenly, strange, quadruple winged, smaller versions of nevermores flew in and started carrying us away, three grabbed me, and struggled to lift me, four more came by, and they finally had the strength to lift the extreme weight of the high density rods in my pack, they carried me off as I slashed at them, trying to get back, I stopped struggling when I saw Milly nearby, one of the Ursa like creatures had knocked her out, and her wings had deactivated, they dropped her suddenly, and I struggled more, Hunter stretched and caught her, slowing her fall but causing the ones carrying him to drop them both, he looked at me, and angled them so that he could break her fall, a large one slammed directly into my head as I watched them fall, and I blacked out.

"Hey! Blind guy!" Ian called, slapping me awake, I stood quickly, and lights flashed before my eyes as I fell,

"Yea, I shoulda warned you about that, you should be weak, you haven't eaten for a while," He explained, holding some fruit out to me. I slapped them away,

"Please don't tell me you ate any of those," I said, and he looked at me, worried,

"I did, why?" He asked,

"They poison your intestines, we have four days to get you back to Beacon, they should be able to treat it," I said, shaking my head and standing, I looked around and saw a stream, I activated my semblance and made a cup, leaving it in the sun to heat up and kill bacteria, then letting it cool, and taking a drink.

"Alright, where are we?" I asked, my head clearing, and he shrugged,

"Not really sure, I woke a few hours ago, found those berries, and then found you." He said, shrugging, and I 'looked' around, seeing nothing we could eat. I looked at the stream,

"Come on, let's travel upstream, I'll spear something for us to eat on the way," I called, and he nodded, I brought out one of the rods, splitting it a bunch of times, and I had many spears floating around me as we walked, I killed three fish, and speared a rust colored fox through it's head, wincing as I did so, it's ears looked alot like Milly's, we cooked the catches, and kept going, we came to a waterfall, and I made a bullet, shooting into the sky and making it explode.

That morning

Name: Milly Last Name: Liberty

I woke, and whirled my head around, I one of the large Ursa knocking me out, where was I now? I stood, my armor clinking with familairity, and walked around the hollowed inside of the large tree, someone had done it, and recently, and incredibly quickly, I noticed the chunks of the cut out tree outside and looked around inside, someone had also quickly fashioned a large bed, the one I'd been sleeping on, and a furnace was in a corner, it's chimney leading outside. I looked around in wonder, nothing was metal, so Epsilon couldn't have done this, Hunter, Tyler, and Nio would have extreme problems doing so, Mako or Ian could've done it, I racked my brain for who could have done it, but didn't need to as a soothing voice came from outside the tree,

"Goodmorning, how did you sleep?" Jake asked as he walked in,

"Uhhh, good, I guess?" I said, stepping away from him, he shrugged,

"Okay, sorry for leaving you alone, I had to go get some food, something I'm sure your current boyfriend couldn't do for you." He said, holding up some dead, rat-like, animals by their tails, I noticed that arrows had gone straight through their eyes, though he carried no bow or quiver. He walked over to the furnace, activating it and pulling on a slot to open up the chimney, proceeding to cook the strange creatures after skinning them, I walked outside, and looked around, eight o' clockish by the sun, so I took out my scroll, wondering why it was out of battery. He noticed me and said,

"Yea, mine is aswell, I'm not sure why," he shrugged and went back to tend the food. I walked around the gargantuan tree, wondering how the tall kid inside had hollowed it so quickly,

"How long have I been out?" I called, fearing the answer,

"About six hours from when I found you," he called back, I shrugged, I could be partnered with worse people, so I helped out when I could, but eventually heard a familiar sound and activated my jets, flying up and seeing one of Epsilon's bullets fly straight up from a far away waterfall, a second explosion resounded as the bullet detonated, I watched it's location and started flying that way, I caught myself and was about to go back for Jake when I heard something fly past me, I looked up and saw one of the flying, four winged, grimm, I looked back and saw that my right wing had been nearly torn off, it shouldn't have mattered too much, the jets were located on the middle of the wings, but it threw off a balance as it completely snapped off, I caught the wing, and leaned to the right, but I was still falling slightly, so I righted myself and landed, Jake ran up,

"Are you okay? That grimm zeroed in on you pretty quickly," he said as I held the wing to it's base, the parts resealed together as one, and testing it, I was still able to fly, but now a flock of the birds had gathered above us, "you probably shouldn't fly right now, those things would tear you apart," he told me with concern, and I nodded. Climbing a tree, I was able to spot the waterfall,

"Come on, I saw one of Epsilon's bullets near the waterfall, if he sent out a signal, that means he'll probably stay there for a while," I said, and he nodded, going back to grab the food and whatever other supplies he had accumulated. We starting walking that direction.

'His rainbow colored bangs are kinda cute,' I thought suddenly, and shrugged, they weren't as creepy as I remembered them, and I found it reassuring that if we got slightly separated I would most likely be able to see his strangely colored hair. We walked past a couple fallen trees, slashed straight through, though it shouldn't've been possible, some of the trees were almost six feet in diameter.

'I like how tall he is, tall, but not too tall, so he isn't always looking down on me,' I reasoned randomly as we continued walking. It started getting dark, and we took shifts sleeping, me until midnight from eight o' clock, him from midnight to four, and then we would switch again. The night passed peacefully, and he woke me for my shift again, brushing my hair out of my face and touching my chin, I woke, staring into his purple eyes, I stood, and he went to sleep. I watched his form, something felt like it was pushing me toward him, it was like something kept telling me us being together would be better than Epsilon and I together, I pondered the strange force, wondering what it was doing so, and I eventually shrugged it off, keeping watch diligently. I woke him around eight and he insisted I get a good sleep, quickly contructing a shade over my head so that the sun wouldn't get in my eyes.

Name: Mako Last Name: Scatterfall

I woke in extreme pain, my right shoulder felt like it had been torn through, I looked, and saw the trunk of a fallen tree piercing my shoulder, it must've hit some vein or artery, because the part protruding from my chest was soaked with my blood, but was ironically stopping me from bleeding out, I couldn't move my right arm or hand, and when I craned my head to look, it was grey and purple, dead. I never knew how long I laid there, but eventually someone almost as banged up as me limped over, his white hood was torn in places, and chrome armor showed in the tears, he looked up at me, one eye swollen shut, red and puffy, the other was the picture of vigilance, he looked at me, then my dead arm, and summoned a sword from his right sleeve, walking over to the tree trunk I was stuck on, and taking place as an executor would, I winced as he struck, he cut through the small trunk with one strike, and I stood with some trouble, and poked the piece of wood in my arm.

"Don't mess with that, it's beyond my current ability to heal, and if you took it out, you would bleed out before I could stabilize you, it should hurt, but if you want to die, the doorknob is right on your shoulder," He said, walking over and sheathing his sword in his sleeve. I nodded, and we walked for a while, directionless, searching for someone in better shape then us, but didn't come across anyone else, and an explosion rang to our left, a second going off in the same direction above us.

"That would be my bro, he should be able to get us some help, my scroll is out of battery, but knowing him, he's probably already built a generator to power his." The other guy told me, and I nodded,

"I'm Mako," I managed through gritted teeth, if the wood hurt while I'd been stuck on the tree, it hurt more when moving.

"Hunter. you want some help? I've got a little extra aura to spare, and if you told me how to, I could channel it and try to heal you a little," he responded, and I shook my head, he was currently the only one between us who could fight, and if he was tired out because he used his aura as a painkiller, it would be on me that he died, if I didn't die aswell. We walked on, and eventually reached a point where we could see a waterfall, night had fallen, and he proposed that he take the first shift, I shook my head,

"You sleep, I'll be able to sleep once a carrier or an airship comes for us, you are gonna have to be able to fight, in case something attacks, I'll keep watch, you sleep," I said, and he nodded, he slept, and I inched the wood out of me a little, healing the areas without the wood in it with my slightly replenished aura, I then watched vigilantly through the night, but not vigilantly enough, the birds returned, and carried us off, Hunter woke and looked around as we were dropped into a huge nest, a Nevermore with four wings landed with a gust of wind, and looked at us, we were defenseless, I practically dead and Hunter in no shape to fight a Nevermore. It cawed and I was only able to cover one ear, it noticed my distress and nipped at my injured shoulder, I screamed in pain and it seemed to grin, then flew off. Hunter crawled over and sat against the wall of the nest, we both fell asleep, we would die even if we were awake.

That morning

Name: N/A Known as: Nio

I woke and tried to struggle, thinking I was falling, the Mini-nevermores had dropped me, and I fallen through the tree, losing consciousness, now I was stuck swinging in vines. I drew Saphire Cutter and slashed through them, grabbing one as I would've fallen, I was now righted, so I dropped to the ground, landing on top of someone who had been too heavy for the vines to catch. He woke at my weight, and glared at me with red eyes. Pushing himself up from the ground, (like a pushup, but standing completely up because of the action) throwing me off him, he extended two scythes and glared at me, his eyes now an amber, almost gold, color. He walked toward me, and I felt the vibrations of his foot steps through the ground. I stood, and brandished Saphire Cutter. He struck down, and I managed to block, but Saphire Cutter was pushed to the ground with his strength, and he kneed me in the face with astonishing speed, I was thrown backward, and slammed into a tree,

"So that's how it's gonna be?" I said as two blue eyes glowed out from behind my visor. I jumped forward, Saphire Cutter's blade now six feet long, he moved in slow motion as I slashed toward him, Saphire Cutter nearly hit him in the side when his eyes glowed red and one of his scythes came up and blocked, I stepped back, and things returned to normal speed as he charged toward me, he sprinted ahead like a freight train, and I blocked, widening my stance and bracing my back foot to a tree, the force of our weapons clashing shook nearby trees, and a shockwave threw leaves from some. He stepped to the side as I slashed vertically, absent mindedly, trying to work out who this super powered guy was, I paid for my glazed look when he didn't bother to slash at me and instead turned and elbowed me in the head hard enough to knock it off my shoulders, fortunately, I was wearing my armor and was only thrown, I smashed into a tree and left an imprint. I yanked myself from it just in time as he ran over and slashed, cutting partway through the tree as I dodged. I turned and slashed back, channeling into Saphire Cutter, but he wasn't there, and I slashed through the same formidable tree, cutting it down. I looked around for him, and barely looked up in time as he came down from above, roaring in anger when he saw me. I sidestepped, and he pounded the ground when he landed, an earthquake roared out from undernearh him, and once the wave of force passed by me, I couldn't move, a mosquito next to my head froze as well, everything in the blast radius of the explosion thing except him was frozen in time. His eyes changed from red to amber, and he looked around in wonder,

"They said I would never have a semblance." He breathed, watching time frozen around him. He looked at me,"Thanks, no one has ever put up that much of a fight."  
I couldn't respond so we waited until his time freeze semblance wore off, it came suddenly, and I fell once it surprised me by going away.

"Why were we fighting again?" I asked, looking around.

"You fell on top of me, but I don't blame you, I fell all the way through those vines, so how could I expect everyone else to do anything different," he said, shrugging.

"Okay, so what now?" I asked as an explosion sounded nearby, to my direct left.

"Sounds like a call, all of our scrolls are dead, so that seems like someone calling for us. A second explosion sounded and I put a note on where it was on my helmets UI. We started running toward it, not wanting to waste any time.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

"I'm not sure how long it'll take for them to get here." I said, and Ian suddenly curled up, the berries beginning to do their thing.

"Oooooohhhh god this hurts," he groaned, clutching his stomach, eventually, it died down, and he was able to stand shakily, he nodded, and I looked around, glad when I 'saw' two familiar forms loping through the jungle toward us. I nodded when they came into view, and gestured toward the small table with food I made, Ian going back to cooking. Nio walked over as I stared at the sunset.

"You're worried about her," he said, almost reading my mind. I shrugged,

"I'm sure she's fine, but-"

"She's away from you, and you're worried someone else might get her." He interrupted, and I nodded. Ian ccoughed behind us. I looked back, but said to Nio,

"He's only got a couple days left, what can we do?" I asked, and Nio shrugged,

"We can't leave our missing friends behind, if that's what you're asking,"

"Of course not, but do you think we might be able to call a carrier for him and then try and search for everyone else?"

"Don't you remember what happened to the last carrier?" Nio questioned, and I shrugged, then gestured at the super soldier guy,

"I'm not quite sure it was the grimm that caused that tree to fall on it." I implied and Nio glared at me.

"He's quick to anger, I'll give you that, but he certainly isn't a traitor," he growled, and I backed off,

"So what do we do?"

"We wait, and if we have to, we call a carrier and get Ian help." He said, and we heard some rustling to my left, looking back, I saw that Ian's sword thing was gone, and so was it's owner.

(So yea, I finally get to give Ian some Justice cuz he is well and truly SIIIIICK, so there's that, Jake is gonna get his face beaten in at some point unless Epsilon gets to him in time, so they're gonna split up and leave Senryo and Nio alone, but what happens when our super soldier realizes that the tattoo on the back of Nio's neck is similar to the one he has on his neck?)


	49. Chapter 49

(Alright guys, I ran out of steam for a while, but I found some coal in the last car of the train, high octane, hell fury coal, and now there's fire in my eyes, I want to kick up imagery a couple notches and see if I can show the true personality of characters better, get ready for a ride)

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia

I scanned the forest, lucious green plantlife did it's best to obscure my vision, but nothing short of the world ending could stop me from saving her, not after what happened last time. I tore through vines and large lilipad like leaves, having seen a flash of pink chrome through the underbrush, I rushed forward, hoping I wasn't too late. I crouched by her side, most of her armor was activated, but her helmet was absent, and her hair was spread out around her in a halo. I touched her face, noting that it was cold as a corpse, and felt her neck, her heartbeat was true and steady, but barely noticeable, she looked fine, so how had she gotten hurt? I started to lift her head, and almost dropped it when I felt blood in her knee length black hair, I moved her slightly, and nearly cried when I saw that she'd slammed her head on a rock when she fell, it was a miracle she was alive at all, and I stepped back, pulling out my Viola, luminecent blue flashed against the nearby trees as it activated, and I played the only healing song I knew, it could seal small wounds and it encouraged heart and lung function, but her brain would remain damaged for a while if it was already. Her heart now pumping and her breathing stronger, I carefully lifted her, and saw a bullet fly into the sky, it exploded, and I started heading that way.

Name: Cole Last Name: None

I woke and could only look forward, entranced by what was before me, two ice colored, soul searching, eyes stared into my violet eyes, the girl smiled, her face inches from my own, and flipped backward slowly, ending in a stretch, her feet flat on the floor, her palms on the floor behind her, the rest of her body in an impossible arc of balance and perfection. She flipped again, and landed looking at me, nodding and stretching other various muscles and tendons using a tree,

"Hello," she called, not interrupting her stretches,

"Good morning, have you any idea where we might be?" I questioned, looking around and seeing only dense trees and a canopy of leaves above me. She shrugged,

"Our scrolls are dead," she answered, pointing to them on a nearby rock, "And any attempt to get to high ground is stopped by those four winged birdies we saw a while ago." She finshed, gesturing with the same hand at some red-eyed grimm bird-things hanging out in the branches above her. I nodded, and checked my suit and robes, my staff nearby, I bent to pick it up, and she was instantly standing in front of me, her elbow at my throat.

"Until I know you at least a little bit better, refrain from retrieving your weapon," she growled, her eyes intense, I nodded, and she disappeared, back where she was before I moved. I straightened,

"What should we do?" I asked,

"Survive until help comes or until a signal reveals itself," she answered absentmindedly, stretching a calf by leaning into the tree with her foot against it. She completed her stretch and walked over to me,

"I am Alejandra, we need food and water, I can get the food, don't pick up your weapon until I get back," she said,walking past me and into the almost neon green jungle behind me. I looked around again, and, getting nothing from the action, closed my eyes and turned to my other senses, a cricket alarmed it's poisonous blood warning nearby, one of the grimm cawed, and a smal river gurgled some distance away. I opened my eyes and walked in that direction, grabbing some leaves and vines along the way, weaving a container from them to hold about half a gallong of water, making another afterward, and grimacing when I saw the river, it's water was slogged with dirtyness, the liquid murky and generally unhealthy looking, I filled the containers anyway and brought them back, the poluted water swirling in the leaf containers, she returned as soon as I did, beaming at me when she saw I'd retrieved water,

"Excellent, you aren't useless,"

"I wouldn't rush to such a conclusion, the water is diseased." I told her showing her the contents of the containers, she smiled, pure white teeth driving any inklings of failure from my mind, she seemed truly happy that I'd done my best to help, and gestured to take a container, I gave her one, and she touched a finger to it's surface, the water turned a deep purple, equivalent to the dark purple of her pants,  
(Yes, two people with a purple aura, so many people in this by now it was bound to happen at some point)  
entered the water, swirling and consuming it before fading back and leaving only crystal clear water behind, she gestured for the other container, placing the first against a tree, and gestured at my staff and a couple strange, rat like creatures with stab wounds through there eyes, I cleansed them with fire and cooked them, we ate quickly and awaited a signal or some other form of indication that we would be saved, nothing happened, and we went back to hunting and getting water, the tenperature suddenly dropped at night, and I left the fire going for us nearby, she slepped first, her heart beating loudly no matter where I sat around the fire, rythmically, always on beat, and strong, now at an incredibly slow tempo, her resting heart rate below that of exceptional athletes. I sat through the night, held in wonder by her sure place in this world, confidence radiating from her even while she slept. The sun rose, and she woke with it, her ice blue eyes looking into my being, she scrunched her eyebrows in anger, and fear pierced my heart,

"You didn't sleep at all last night!" She said, and I nodded, she stood, and crossed her arms, "Go to sleep, I'll watch over you." She insisted, and I shrugged, laying back and covering my eyes with some of the cloth from my new robes. I dreamt of her, she stood at a cliff, gazing down at something at the bottom with conviction, her eyes widened in fear, and something flew up at her from the bottom of the cliff. I woke suddenly, and she looked at me,

"Four hours with the sun up, not bad, let's go, I." She said, choking on the last word for a second, "Want to get to, higher ground," she said, pointing upstream. I nodded, and let the fire die, we grabbed more water and she purified it on the way, we walked the full day, stopping when the sun started it's immersion within the horizon, I built a fire while she went hunting, and finished early, whirling my staff around and going through my attack sequences, ensuring that I wouldn't fall behind in a fight. She returned as I finished, the familiar rat things hanging by their tails in her hand were plump, and I quickly cooked them, we ate as darkness fell, and she took first shift, I struggled, to sleep, but something was bothering me, and I opened my eyes to look around. The fire was going, but she was shivering, her billowing pants and shirt doing nothing to block the unnatual cold. I stood, and took of my heavy robes, the skin tight metal suit all that remained, she shook her head when I offered the robes to her,

"No need for you to be cold, jus-st s-sleep," she shivered, and I shook my head,

"Don't freak out," I responded, and changed into an Ursa, the extra fur providing all the warmth I needed. Her eyes widened in surprise, and I draped the heavy robes around her, walking across the fire and going to sleep. Happy that I could help. She later woke me, fear not a thought in her mind as she gently slapped the sides of my face to wake me up. I woke, and she took my spot as I took up the spot where she sat watching me. She didn't sleep for a while, but eventually her breathing leveled and she slept peacefully, I watched her from across the fire, I'd met no one like her before, she made everything so simple, no fussing about which way to go, no arguing ove rwho does what, she simply pointed the way and chose what to do, while I agreed or filled in the gaps, she was used to doing everything herself, and when somebody lifted even a little of that burden, it surprised and gladened her. I couldn't fathom why it was like that, why I seemed happy for her doing what she did, throughout all my life I'd been the leader, the counter, and sometimes the provider, and now, someone else had taken it upon themself to take care of me, it warmed my heart, and against my own will, I let her fill the hole that had been left when Teresa was torn from me. The night was uneventful, and she woke at sunrise without me doing anything. She stood, and stretched like clockwork, I picked up the supplies and put out the fire, leaving it in bundles for us to take, she thanked me and handed me my robes, picking up the larger of the two packs, slinging it over her shoulder, I grinned, putting on the robes, and grabbed the heavier, denser, pack, following her lead. We continued upstream, toward what, we did not know.

Name: Teresa

I jumped straight up, waking in fear, and twisted in mid-air, flipping, stringing my bow, and notching an arrow as I sailed through the air, I opened my eyes and saw that vines had gotten interwoven around me as a result of my thoughtless actions. I nearly grabbed my axes to slice through them, but noticed a vine around my throat, breaking my neck from falling onto it directly would mean a sure death, my aura could protect me from outer attacks, but snapping my own neck with momentum comes from within, so I froze, making sure I wasn't falling, and tried to turn my head to look around and see which vine led where, and noticed that any movement from my head somehow contricted the vine around my neck, so I held still, it felt like ours, straining to hold myself in position, but it was closer to a few minutes, ahead of me, I heard rustling, and called out, someone's head poked out of the foliage, light brown hair, and bright eyes looked at me, almost orange, they held a hint of lilac and a splash of green, his face was shapely, and he saw me instantly, he whistled,

"Quite the natty-do you've gotten yourself into, eh?" He said, a pronounced accent giving his speech a very, explorerisc addition. He revealed his full height, stepping from the bushes, sizing up to about the same as me, his body had an athletic runners build, and he seemed thin, he ran over to a tree, rebounding off it and swinging on some nearby vines to hang close to my face,

"Yea, would you mind giving me a hand?" I asked, and he nodded, eyeing the vines holding me for a moment before drawing an enormous axe weapon, a single curved curved edge was just about it's entirety, a handle extended from one side as it's crescent edge came to a point, he looked again, now holding on with one hand, his right hand holding the enormous weapon, and nodded, swinging and letting go of that vine to grab another one, eventually getting enough distance to come swinging back, launching off a tree, he got within ten feet and let go of the vine, being enveloped by a sky blue outline, and spinning mid-move, bringing the gigantic blade through all the vines at once. I was falling suddenly, and flipped over to land as he floated to the ground behind me, the outline going away as he touched the floor. I looked back, breathless, and he flashed a brilliant white smile. I blushed, and almost looked at myself in confusion, Blushing? I am Teresa, patron saint of kick ass. I looked at him, my features hardening,

"Who are you?" I interrogated, and he shrugged,

"Just a guy lost in the world, mate." He responded, and I pulled back the front of my cloak, reaching for one of my axes with obviousness. He looked at it and looked at me, shrugging again and saying,

"Will's the name, hunting's the game, what's a right nice Aussie like yourslef doing in this here jungle?" He asked, moving closer, my face became flushed against my will as he approached,

"We kinda got stuck, and I just woke up before getting tangled in those vines." I answered, and he grinned,

"Then I figur' we're cobbers now! I got separated from my beacon group by some nasty bities, and then a whole pack of bounces went on their ways, carrying us off with 'em," he said, shaking my hand, his griplike a vice as he passed the axe thing from right to left hand and sheathed it into a handle holster on his back, it weirded me out, it would've made more sense for him to have a machete or something, he looked around, his plain white T-shirt outlining his sculpted chest and mid-section, cargo pants and running shoes made for an interesting attire.

"If we're gonna give ourselves a fair go, I suggest we manage a Dingo's breakfast up on one 'o those trees," we said, pointing,

"What?"

"Let's go up and take a look around Sherry, there's bricklaying to get done," he answered, bouncing into one of the trees, I tried to follow him, but I was completely out of place in this jungle, I couldn't stalk or run because any prey would be above me in the trees and because roots of moss would slip or trip me up. I managed to follow him, he appeared at home, swinging from one vine to the next but eventually came down, stopping and looking at me,

"It seems like a cut lunch is in order, not much around for a couple clicks, but a captain cook up in the trees gave me quite a surprise, a whammie flying straight up into the sky, and exploding! I think we should head that way, seemed like a dinkum signal and not too far past bourke street." He said, and my mind struggled to translate,(thinking about translating it for you guys, this character talks kinda insane). He pulled out some bread from a backpack that he somehow carried without me noticing it, making lunch and offering me a sandwich, I munched on it gratefully, and said,

"You called me Sherry earlier."

"Well naturalish, I have Buckley's chance of coming a gutser if I tried to come up with a name within corooe of your actual one, so I gave you one I liked myself," He responded, packing and walking slow enough for me to keep up, I stood,

"My name is Teresa." I told him when I got close, and he looked at me,

"You give a cook's thought if I were to use the one I thought up? I like it myself." He said, and I shrugged,

"Go ahead, so who's on your team?" I questioned,

"Well Ozpin had to have a right tough time in the Bush coming up with a name for our team, as he just gave up and randomized the name, it being JSJW, doesn't even stand for anything, corper shot at it he had though, even asked us for help, but we settled for what we got, Julia being the leader, Senryo is our resident brick shit house, Jake takes a crack onto every girl he meets, and I myself just enjoy the world around. Julia hasn't told us her semblance, wanting to keep it a secret, Senryo shouldn't have one, Jake has some whacky telepathic and telekinetic powers, and I got a right bottler feather fall semblance, And yourself? I think that explanation should be worth some dinkum answers," he shot back, and I shrugged,

"I'm with team COAT from beacon, Cole, a shaman, Orion, a berserker, Aries, our paladin, and me, the hunter, Cole has a freeze time ability, Orion uses glyphs, Aries recently developed a second semblance to his first one, mild Polarity and faulty Spatial Distortion, and I have blinding speed, I'm unmatched, and may never be matched in agility." I said, shrugging, closing my eyes slightly to see if he looked, he didn't, and continued forward after nodding contemplatively. The sun fell beneath the horizon as night came to pass, we woke in the morning, both confident enough in our reflexes to sleep without a guard. We ate a 'brekkie' of sandwiches quickly and were on our way. We stopped by a stream and he showed me a trick his 'grandpop' showed him, purifying the water with his aura. We got to the place where he saw the bullet by mid day, and saw a campsite, recently used by his inspection, and decided to wait there, wondering what the days would bring.

(Loved writing this chapter, missing some people, so I'll finish off the pairings soon, I am TERRIBLE, at making the team names which is why I'm so hesitant to try, gonna do one more chapter in the jungle and then I can't wait to get back to Vale for the crap going on Canon, real time, everyweek, which means I'm switching to first gear, sorry guys, but be sure to check out my original story the Alchemist's Apprentice on fictionpress under my name, ultimatumcore, that's it, Review, PM me, g'night. 


	50. Chapter 50:The Enemy's Enemies

Name: Ian Last Name: Strider

I winced, and fell to a knee, my stomach still gurgling painfully. I looked up, the surrounding foliage seemed safe, but you could never be sure, and I wasn't quite sure how safe it would be in a few moments. I stood, grimacing as the pain intensified, but Mako was in danger, and I knew I was the only one remaining to help him. I staggered forward, going as quickly as possible, tripping over every root and plant in my way, heading towards a nevermore nest. Night had fallen, and day had come back again, rising from it's fight with the darkness, I knew I only had today to save them.

Same day.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I stood, and looked around, today I would go out and find Milly, no matter what stood in my way. The lush jungle remained silent, and it put me off, normally I could hear it, random buzzing, strange crickets sounding off their poisonous blood, sometimes the rat like things could be heard, an eerie shrieking took it's place some distance away, and I took a 'look' around with my semblance, grimacing as the form of some wild cat was shown to me. I faced it, and it leaped forward, pouncing, it must have been the size of an Ursa, and was attacking with deadly precision, it's white and red mask gleaming as it flew through the air toward me. I extended my shields as fast as possible, bringing them up in front of me, they didn't get fully extended, and crumbled under the attack, jabbing sharp edges into my flesh, it jumped back, a deep growl emenating from it, and another sound, I noticed a primal purring come from it as I removed my destroyed shields with my semblance, drawing my sword from it's sheath on my back and turning to face it. The purring stopped, and it's growl seemed to only increase in volume, not an attack, but obviously there for a reason, my mind flashed back to the sentient tree in the emerald forest just in time to notice a humanoid grimm screaming silently through the air towards me, grimm normally made sure to avoid friendly fire, but deliberately planning and working as a team? It shook me, and I stepped out of the way and sliced it in half with an upwards swipe as it sailed past me, it's upper and lower sections tumbling to the ground awkwardly. The cat like thing slammed into me, and raked it's claws over me for a few seconds as I grimaced and dropped the sword, grabbing it with my semblance and slicing the cat to pieces. I surveyed the damage, it had gotten me three times, and had shredded my armor and flesh, my arms now barely able to be moved, this wouldn't do, so I focused my aura to heal my wounds, sacrificing my semblance for the rest of the day, I stood, brushing myself off and flicking the now useless armor plates on my shoulders, and walked in the direction I where I felt she was, the compass on my glove telling me that I was going southwest from the camp.

Name: Aries Last Name: N/A

"Dude, how much further?" I questioned, slogging along behind Orion who was in a very happy mood.

"Come on! We barely moved yesterday, we gotta kick it up a notch today, even if you want to be lazy." He called back, climbing a tree and running from branch to branch above me, I looked up,

"How d'you have so much energy? We haven't eaten."

"I dunno, the jungle seems to fuel me, is that weird?" He asked, slipping off a branch only to grab onto it and swing on it. I scowled,

"I guess the jungle brings out the best in you and worst in me, my hair's been stupid since we got here, and I can't stand the heat during the day and unnaturally freezing temperatures at night, but you seem as happy as a worm in an apple orchard." I commented, trudging behind him, my hair sticking up at weird angles from the humidity, it felt like my joints were creaking as we finally plopped down for food. Orion flipped over and landed next to me, holding out half of a bird he caught and cooked as I caught up. I ate ravenously, my metabolism and body not built for these extreme and radical climate and temperature changes, something's causing it, and I wasn't quite sure what. We went on, Volund dragging me down against the strange terrain and questionable weather. We noticed a river, but went straight through it, perpendicular, it flowing downward to the right as we crossed it. We soon came to a small alcove etched into a tree, something had done it, something human, but who, and why, we did not know, and settled down for the night inside. Orion keeping guard first, and I sleeping til he woke me.

"Blurgh," I groaned, and he shrugged, sitting against the opposite wall and going to sleep.

(Let's see, got all of team COAT now, all of MIMA, and all of HENT, who am I missing? Team JSJW makes no sense, but I've got all of them, who else? Is that it? I feel like there were more, oh Yea! EXTRA OC GUY ON THE ENEMY TEAM TIME, knack knack knack knack knack. Let's go!)

I stood in the center of a spotlight, the only light in the room, the rest shrouded in darkness, Cinder's poisonously sweet voice echoing from the darkness,

"Why, do you think that you might be of any use at all to us?" She questioned, her yellow eyes glowing from the darkness in front of me. I shrugged nonchalantly,

"I definitely can't hurt you, and your plan is much to elaborate for you to lose, so why not join the winning side, besides, I'm sure you could find a use for a teenage mutant ninja kid(turtle?)" I answered, standing straight and looking her in the eye, accents of her dress began glowing as well, and she stepped from the dakrness, the red finally coming to light (literally). She glared at me,

"What, exactly, do you know of my plan?" She demanded, her quiet whisper feeling louder than a shout,(Fus Ro Dah?). I shrugged, again, letting my eyes slide half closed as I leaned against the pillar I was chained to,

"Enough to know where you are and will be hiding, and enough to cripple it if you try to kill me," I said ominously, doing my best to make sure I looked as relaxed as one could while shackled to a cement pillar in the middle of some god forsaken warehouse, she stepped closer, now only around a foot away, and I opened my eyes to look at her as her right hand lit with flames. I had been bargaining on her believing me, and even joked a little, but she had a far shorter fuze than anyone I'd ever known, and had noticed my joke, and hated it. The chains dug into my flesh as I pulled against them slightly, just the right amount of fear I had to show for her to back off, she needed to feel as if she was in control, so I let her, and she grinned,

"Since you obviously fear me too much to try and fight me, you can prove yourself with a first mission. Clear this warehouse of all life," she said, anger only a hint in her voice, seductively telling me that she could hold her poker face for years, I made a note to never play poker against her as she melted the chains binding me, I shook them off, and checked my pockets, my weapons reassuringly I looked around as the spot light became just another of the spot lights lighting the room, the darkness had let me think I was in the center of the warehouse, but with light in abundance, I realized that I was only in a small segment of it. 'How poetic,' I thought as she left, I stepped after her, through the only door to the room, and looked around, she had vanished the second she left the room, but quite a few men still remained, at least I thought they were men, some of them had their gloves off, and fur was in all the wrong places. I looked at them, and they looked at me. An alarm went off,

"PRISONER ESCAPING! PRISONER ESCAPING!"

They jumped at me, and I pulled out the dual Uzis I had in my long cargo pants pockets, spraying into the attacking forces, some of them died instantly, but one got in point blank range and swiped the guns to the right, away from the enemies, saving his friends, I was about to shoot him, but he punched me twice in the stomach, then attempting to knee me between the legs, I dodged deftly, recovering from the punches and caught his knee on my right thigh, a far easier to handle injury than what he was going for, I brought the clips of the Uzis together, twisting them and hooking them as one, then pulling them apart, a chain linking them, I twisted side ways and looped the chain around his neck, spinning around him and putting us back to back, I leaned forward quickly, crushing his larynx and throat with the chain, then setting the left Uzi on full auto and setting the trigger to shoot, whipping it around and spraying more bullets at the rapidly surrounding enemies, catching the Uzi as it came back, I grabbed it and unlatched the trigger. Looking around, about twenty of them remained, and three rushed toward me, swords at the ready, they got in range and one started cutting downwards, I flipped backwards, dodging his attack and landing on the fourth enemy who tried to attack from behind, I pressed a button on Silvia, the right pistol, and flipped it over as I stood, now holding a knife attached to a chain and a gun, I lurched forward, pulled by the knife as it thirsted for blood, slitting the throat of the humanoid I'd landed on, fluidly rolling forward to stand directly in front of the first attacker, slipping the blade between his ribs and grinning as he gargled blood, whatever these things were, they were abominations, and deserved to die, with Silvia still in between his ribs, I cut right, severing anything that might've been not shredded or punctured by the first impact, turning as I did so and spraying at the two remaining attackers with Aegis, the left pistol, but not a shield. I stepped away from the first enemy as the other two died, bullets in their heads, and looked around, the enemy hesitating to attack, one tried to run, and I turned Aegis on him, putting forty bullets in his back as he took a step toward the exit, the sound of his death was ominous in the silent room. I decided to make some noise, dropping Silvia and Aegis, they clattered to the ground, and the enemy rushed toward me, thrilled at their sudden intimidation of me, they got close, and my scared look was priceless, their surprised looks were more priceless as I scooped up my weapons and stabbed Silvia into the throat of the closest enemy, setting the chain to extend to it's max and latching the trigger on Aegis, throwing the Uzi and ducking as it orbited on the throat of the still strangled enemy who was scrabbling at the knife in his throat, almost all of them died, and I caught Aegis, unlatching his trigger and pulling on the chain, spinning the still standing enemy in front of me as the final surviving humanoid grimm went full auto towards me. The bullets were caught by my new meat shield and I unlatched a sphere from my belt, a click resounded as I pulled out it's pin and tossed it to the grimm, it's mind, still primitive, caught it and inspected it as I took cover. It exploded, blasting a hole in the wall and incinerating him. I stepped from the room I was in before and looked around, whistling casually as I converted Silvia to gun form and unhooked them. Slipping them into my lower pockets and putting my hands in the higher pockets, still whistling as I walked through the hole I blasted in the wall, picking up a many holed sphere as I went, slipping a pin back into it's head. The holes on it closed and it shook, recharging, I hooked it onto my belt and looked around outside, a limousine had just pulled up and the door opened. I stepped into it and familiar eyes peered from across it.

"A little conspicuous don'tcha think?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and gesturing at the interior,

"Roman said the same thing, but if they come, let them, I'm a match for Goodwitch herself, and none of her, students, could hope to be anywhere as good as yourself," she said,

"Was that a compliment?"

"Quite an appraisal, coming from me, so, how much exactly, do you know about my plan?" She asked again as the limousine got up to cruising speed.

(So yea, NEW GUY! YAAAAAY! I got the weapon idea from a friend but the character is MINE, jungle conclusion next chapter, this guy meets Roman and the folks, and Epsilon kills a fool who thinks he can woo Milly(not literally(probably) so many mistakes in this chapter I fixed it and replaced it, sorry guys. Hmmm, If that tree that Milly woke up in was so close to the river, why are they taking so long to get to the camp? And crap, Epsilons shields got broken again, they need to be a bit less destructible, I wonder who could help him. Actually, ya' know what? As long as I'm gonna do a chapter, lets do it all in this one, so yea, straight to it eh?)

Same day.

Name: Milly Last Name: Liberty

"I don't understand, we should've made it there by now," I whispered, looking at the spot where I saw Epsilon's beacon, it made no sense, we walked all day yesterday and the day before, unless I was crazy, we should've made some progress by now, maybe we were going in circles? I crouched, and inched forward, Jake just behind me as I went from one tree to the next, climbing higher, I looked at where the bullet had come from, no difference in our proximity to it, but a strange purple haze swirled around it, the color reminded me of Jake's eyes, and I turned to look at him,

"You see if we're any closer, babe?" He asked, and I shook my head,

"We haven't even moved toward it at all since yesterday. It doesn't make any sense, how are we not making any progress?" I questioned, dropping to the ground floor in front of him, he walked over, touching his hand to my cheek,

"You're so cute when you're mad, you know that?" He said, and I blushed, his eyes practically glowing as he looked into mine. He pulled me close, and stared into my soul, his luminescent irises unlocking the secrets of my heart. We slowly came closer to each other, millimeter by millimeter, but a sword flew with deadly precision between us, epsilons shining down the flat of the blade.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

"Wow, I don't know who I'm more disappoint i-" I started, the couple on the ground separated by my sword, I stood in a nearby tree. I was interrupted by Milly's wings activating and jetting towards me, she tackled me off the branch and we hit the ground, my eyes closing as we did so and my head cracking against a root, I slipped into unconsciousness as Milly held a sword to my throat. I woke on the ground a fire crackling nearby, and tried to stand, making it to a knee before blood rushed to my head, it felt like someone kicked me in the stomach, and all the breath rushed from my body, I coughed, and fell back, struggling for air, closing my eyes as my head landed on the kind of pillow my head had been on, it felt like a burlap sack full of leaves, but it kept me from slamming my head on the ground again, and my ability to breath soon returned, along with Milly, I heard her footsteps and voice as she rushed over, kneeling next to me,

"Are you ok?" She asked, and I groaned, my head pounding like Aries was jack hammering on it with a transformed Volund. She dbrought some water over and I gulped it down, laying back as she went to grab me something to eat and some more water. I opened my eyes as she left, what, no kisses? Wonder if she's been having a bad time of it, they're no more than a good forty feet from where I was, so how far away were they? Or what kept them from reaching us for so long? She returned, and my head ached terribly, I pressed my palms against my temples and scrunched up my face, clsoing my eyes again,

"Here, food," she said, holding some roasted bird infront of me, the pounding lessened, and I took it, still not opening my eyes, but munching gratefully. She left the water and the rest of some form of bird I was eating, and I shrugged, finishing eating and fading back into unconciousness.

I looked around, I'd woken up again to see Milly packing up the supplies and to see Jake helping, I grabbed the cloth bag I'd slept on, which was indeed filled with leaves, and handed it to Jake,

"Thanks," he mumbled, stuffing it into a pack, I stepped toward Milly,

"Hey, the meeting point is just up ahead, we can get there in a few hours at most," I said, looking at the compass on my glove, Milly had been bent over, but now straightened, getting the bag onto her back, but facing the other way, gesturing,

"Lead the way," she sighed, and turned toward me, her hair covering her eyes, I wondered for a second whether she was okay, but knew she would tell me if it was important. I took another look at my glove, and strode in the correct direction, grabbing my sword as I went, Jake and Milly following behind. We made it a good twenty feet when I decided I wanted to know what happened, and slowed down so Jake could catch up.

"Hey, what's up with Milly? Why'd she tackle me like that?"

"Not quite sure what's wrong with her, we were walking for days, but everynow and then she would randomly change direction, insisting that she knew the way to go, and wouldn't accept any arguments, she attacked because you surprised us-"

"Hmmm, what was that little scene I dropped in on before I was knocked out huh? You were making a move on her eh? Going for the rebound even though we never broke up?" I questioned, eyeing him angrily, he shrugged,

"I have no idea what that was about, she just dropped down in front of me and watched me, her eyes covered by that infernal hair of her's," He told me blandly, and I looked at him, deciding to believe him,

"You think she's okay?"

"I'm afraid the jungle and all the craziness got to her, I just hope she'll be alright." He answered, and walked faster, leaving me behind. His statement felt, practiced, predetermined, but I hoped he was more than some liar, and continued toward the beacon spot, we must've walked ten feet more when Milly called out to us,

"I really think it's over here!" She called, pointing to the left, I showed her the compass on my glove,

"No! We're going the roght way! Come on! We should get there soon!" I called back, and she made a grumpy face, eyebrows scrunched, lips pursed, nose wrinkled, and a foot stomp.

"That's impossible! It's this way! I know it!" She insisted, and Jake looked at me in exasperation. I shrugged, and walked over to her, acting as if I was gonna follow her, she turned slightly, grinning, her eyes shrouded behind her hair, and I turned quickly, knocking her over the head and shoving her into unconsciousness, catching her as she fell and throwing her over my shoulder, carrying her in the right direction, Jake stared at me, but shrugged, following my lead. We got there and placed her on a mat,starting up a fire and cooking some animals Jake got on the way. I thought I heard some strange noises and explosions as the sun set, but pushed it from my mind as they faded.

'Bout half an hour earlier.

Name:N/A Known As: Nio

"If we haven't found him by now what makes you think we would? It's impossible that he got away from us, and even if he did, he's probably dead by now, those berries allow four days at MOST, it's been three now, so at worst he's already dead." Senryo growled, starting a fire as the sun continued it's descent. I shrugged and deactivated my armor, looking at him,

"If there's even a chance that he could still be alive, we can't stop looking for him," I turned, and watched the sun set, startled by a gasp from behind me,

"Your neck, what does the tattoo on it say?" Senryo questioned, a strange twinge in his voice. I grinned,

"It's actually kinda my name, I saw it when I was little and mistook it for Nio, it's actually-"

"N.10. We've waited a long time for you to show up," he whispered, and I heard his scythes unlatch and activate, I called my armor and turned to face him as he lunged forward, smashing me through a tree. I glared at him, his arm, his shoulder, the back of his neck flashed into view,

"N.15" was printed on the back of his neck, similar to mine. I called Saphire Cutter and switched it to sword mode as he bashed me through another tree into a kind of clearing, a canopy of leaves still overhead, but trees were around twenty feet apart in a diameter. I flipped backward, and he snarled, practically pawing the ground like a bull ready to charge. I held Saphire Cutter between me and him, guarding as he rushed forward, he slammed into me, and would've pulverised me then and there, but my armor granted me increased strength, and I withstood the blow, sliding back an inch, I gritted my teeth and hit him with the hilt of my blade, bloodying his face, his head snapped back, and he looked at me, smiling with blood gleaming in the seams between his teeth. He slashed at me, swiping left with his right scythe, a face of anger etched on it, and I leapt back, just out of range as he lunged forward, bringing the point of the other scythe into my mid-section, slashing through my armor and into me, I gasped,

"I'm sorry, did that HURT?" He asked, his eyes a deep blue, I jumped back as his eyes went from blue to purple to red, and then back to an amber color. He shook his head and charged forward again,

"Mid section compromised, enemy weapons poisoned." A readout told me on the inside of my visor, I grimaced, what poison would that scythe have on it? If it was one to straight up kill me I'd already lost, let's hope that it wasn't. I charged toward him, ducking under a horizontal strike, bringing Saphire Cutter up and at his ribs, a death blow, but Saphire Cutter met resistance, and I was pushed back as he leaned forward, his eyes gleaming indigo, he whispered into where my ear would be if not for my helmet,

"Yes, it will be quite alot harder to kill me, not at all like that little girl, even though me and that little girl have something in common." He kneed me in the chest, thrusting me into the air, his other scythe collapsed as he dealt me a blow that threw me out of the clearing, straight through a tree. I stood, wondering how I could beat him, he lifted the tree and threw it aside, stepping toward me, "We two do actually have so,ething in common, the girl and I, neither of us were afraid, her, because she was to ignorant of the monster you are, I, because I know I can kill you, I can already see the poison getting at you, it's over, Nio." He said quietly, his steps crushing roots and leaving imprints in the ground.

(Yes! An ULTRA LONG CHAPTER! CONTINUING!)

Strange thoughts crept into my mind,

"Give up."

"It's no use,"

"Tear the world to shreds! Starting with the one in front of you! He has no right to make you feel this pain." One yelled, and I shook my head, standing as I did so. He extended his scythes, growling as he did so, and I charged forward, he attacked with both, swiping to my left, and I blocked, bringing Saphire Cutter up on my right, intending to bash straight into him but the force of his attack threw me into a tree,

"Excellent attempt, do the same thing again." Something whispered, and I shrugged it off, stepping forward, he did as well, smiling his bloody grin. Slashing horizontally again, I jumped over the attack, kneeing him in the face as I got to the ground, bringing Saphire Cutter's hilt on the back of his head twice, jumping back before he attacked again,

"Logical, you won't be able to cut through him, so impact attacks would go to best affect," a matter-of-fact voice sounded off,

"Shut up," I growled, running toward him again, sliding under a diagonal attack and hitting his leg with my elbow, sliding past him and turning into a stand, practivally falling over to dodge a swipe, bracing my right hand on the ground I pushed up and brought my left elbow into his face, I grinned as he stepped back once, dazed, but grimaced as he followed through with an attack, slicing my arm with the scythe that had an angry face etched onto it. My vision clouded red, and I bellowed in anger, what am I doing? I'm not some rage driven idiot. I lunged toward him, knocking him to the ground, rolling into a kneel next to him, holding him down with my left hand while I bashed his face in with my right. It took concentration, but I pulled myself off him, stepping back, trying to contain my now directionless rage.

"Oooh, sorry, that would be the other poison," He cooed, "Sen chose it, electrifying, isn't it?" Walking toward me, I backed up to a tree, struggling to think through the haze of rage, he attacked with the right scythe, and I jumped out of the way, the scythe got stuck in the tree, and I grinned for a moment before a cat like, huge grimm, slammed into me. It landed on me and roared in my face, I slashed it in half with Saphire Cutter, pushing it's body off me, I channeled into Saphire Cutter, standing and bringing it in front of me as Senryo yanked the scythe from the tree, it flew from his hand and I brought up Saphire Cutter in time to block it, noticing through the red that it's blade was weirdly colored, darker, almost purple, it's normal blue tinged with an angry yet sadistic purple. Senryo was on me in a nanosecond, bashing me into another tree, Saphire Cutter's latch malfunctioned and it fell from my arm. He stood over me, this was it, he won. His eyes flashed through it's assorted colors, settling on amber gold, and he raised the scythe, it's serene face scowling at me.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

Milly lay sleeping nearby, curled up against the cold, I walked over, and laid down next to her, wrapping her in my arms to protect her against the unnaturally frigid temperatures. The fire crackled nearby quietly, cozily, too quietly, too cozily, and I woke to her slapping me over it in a few hours.

"WHAT?! ARE YOU DOING?!" She yelled, and I stood, rubbing the red hand print from my face,

"What's wrong? You were cold, so I tried to warm you up," I said, opening my eyes as she turned away from me,

"Just, just don't touch me, I've got some things to figure out." She said, shivering in the ever dropping coldness.

"Are you ok? Jake says you've been acting strangely." I told her, and she turned towards me,

"Oh? You two are talking behind my back? Is that what's going on?" She said, and I stepped around the fire towards her,

"Listen, that doesn't matter, he, doesn't matter, I'm worried about you," I told her, reaching forward to touch her cheek with my fingertips, I brought her face up to look at mine, and I nearly stepped back, wher eherbeyes were normally a deep, dark, brown, they were now almost completely purple, only the inner ring of her irises were brown as the strange coloring suffocated her eyes, tears welled at the bottom,

"What, th-" I managed before she pushed me away, turning to hide the strangeness,

"What's wrong with me? Why do I feel so crazy?" She questioned, and I walked over, Jake alongside,

"What happened?" He questioned beside her.

"I don't know! Ever since around three days ago, I've been thinking weird things, random things, it's so confusing!" She cried, and we looked at each other, I noticed something, although it was dark, the iridescent purple of his eyes were completely visible, his eyes were glowing, and it seemed like his semblance was activated. I drew my sword, and pointed it at his throat,

"Release her, whatever you're doing. Quit it." I growled, and his eyes widened,

"What?"

"Your eyes, they're glowing, what's your semblance?" I interrogated, and he shrugged.

"I've got close range telekinesis and telepathy, why?" He asked,

"While you're telepathing someone, don't there eyes change color?"

"They do,"

"Take a look at hers."

He did so,

"I have no idea what to say, I'm not trying to do anything to her, how can I stop it?"

"Then you leave me no choice," I whispered, lunging at him and knocking him out with my swords hilt. He fell to the ground, unconscious, and Milly gasped, and looked at me, her eyes still infected with the sickly coloring, I sheathed the sword and looked at her, wondering what I could do. She ran ove rand hugged me, tears streaming from her eyes,

"What's going on? Why'd you do that?"

"He's been telepathing you, what thoughts kept popping into your head?" I asked, and she shrugged,

"Just random stuff about him, Is that bad?" She asked, fear in her voice, I leaned back to look at her,

"If it is, I'm here to help," I told her, and she nodded, smiling through the tears. She walked back to where she'd been sleeping,

"Maybe a good night's rest'll do it?" She half asked, half suggested, and I shrugged,

"You can try that, tell me if you have any strange dreams or nightmares, I wanna know whether or not he can telepath while out like a light." I said, and she nodded, curling up back where she had been, I kept watch, and fiddled with some if the metal rods, I had to find out why the scrolls all conked out, and if there was an alternate why to power them, other wise, we'd have to build a way out ourselves. My thoughts were interrupted by a blue light flashing just outside the clearing, and Nano walked over, different, but quite how I couldn't put my finger on. His blue T-shirt was ruffled, like it always was, and his shorts seemed exactly the same shade of orange, of 5 years ago. He looked at me, and I saw that his eyes blazed a deep blue, not blue, Saphire.

-Flashback-

I glanced around the table, these fools had just put all their money on a single number, the table tilted just right so it would always land there, they brought out a polished ball, a polished steel ball, and I nearly grinned, but Nano was counting on me, and these guys were sure they would win, but easily spooked nonetheless. I bet on the number closest to there's, this was a true gambling game, rectangular slots were strewn across the table, a mechanized arm threw it the same way everytime, but so,ehow the table normally randomized the winner, these goons cheated, and they would pay for it, the ball was thrown, it bounced around the board, and teetered into their slot, but my semblance made sure they couldn't win, and they began handing over the money, illegal dust, and other narcotics, one was about to fork over a bomb, but the door burst open, and assorted officials burst into the room, I grabbed Nano as he inspected a coin, stuffing my pockets with as much money as possible, bending the foundation of the building as I sprinted to a window, it's iron bars creaked and bent, letting us out, reforming behind us, I looked in wonder, I'd never been able to do that, and saw out of the corner of my eye as the one with the bomb tried to set it off, only to be beheaded by a strange, unseeable to me sword, I felt eyes watch us get away as I sprinted into the darkness, carrying Nano over my shoulder.

-Flashback End-

"He's in danger, I need your sword," he said, and I shuddered, his younger voice struck a chord in me, the sword flew in his direction as I directed it toward him with his semblance. He nodded, and faded into darkness.

Name: N/A Known As: Nio

A harsh grinding noise sounded off above me, and I shuddered, opening my eyes, to see a kid standing above me, Senryo grimacing, the kid had slashed down Senryo's forearm, hitting the bone, the skin wasn't hurt, but Senryo was shaken, the kid offered his hand to me, his eyes shining the color of my aura, and I heard heavy footsteps as he helped me up, the child was grinning, but it fell off his face as the tip of a blade emerged from his chest, he looked at it in wonder, and coughed up blood as he was lifted into the air, Senryo's eyes crimson as he slashed the kid to shreds. I stared at him, horrified, and the haze settled over my sight, Saphire Cutter was on the ground a few feet away, but I didn't care, I lunged toward him, ready to tear him limb from limb, his eyes changed to amber, and he began to fall to his knees, just realizing what he'd done, he was stopped as I drove an aura charged fist into his chest, uppercutting him hard enough to smash him into a tree, he fell to his face on the ground, repulsion etched onto his features, I charged forward kicking him back into the tree, my foot blazing blue. He slid down the tree, staring at his bloodied hands, I got to him and lifted him by his collar, bracing him against the tree as I aura charged another punch, but something, someone held me back,

"No need for that, just surprised me is'all," a voice said behind me, a sword trailed behind him as he walked, blue Epsilons coupled by infinity signs running down it's length. Senryo saw the kid and his jaw dropped,

"I-i, I thought." He stuttered, and the kid shrugged,

"I'm just about immortal unless you kill this big meanie," Kid-Nano explained, his face smug, he'd just put us at an Impasse, and even young mode him knew it, I couldn't kill, not unless I knew I had a reason, and Senryo would never put a child at risk, even an aura based one. I dropped him, and he landed on his feet, kneeling next to Nano, he said,

"How?"

"Memory based auric projection! Even though I was never like this as an eleven year old, Nio sure thinks this is how I talked and sounded." The kid explained, the grin on his face growing, Senryo turned toward me,

"I can't take a life that didn't already belong to me, even one such as this, but this doesn't mean I'm not after you, I find a way to separate this kid from you, and I take you in, dead, or alive." He relented, walking in the direction of the camp Epsilon made, "Ian is most likely dead by now, let's go." He growled, not taking no for an answer.

That morning.

Name: Ian Last Name: Strider

I woke in agony, pain came from every nerve, seeping from my stomach and leeching will power from the rest of my body, I screamed in pain before I got myself under control, unfortunately, I didn't silence myself quick enough, I felt them coming, vibrations in the ground, subtle noises. I had two minutes at most, I rolled to my hands and knees, hanging my head, another wave of torture rolled through me, and I coughed, the taste of blood in my mouth, I had today at most, and still hadn't figured a way up the tree. Different from all the other trees, this one stretched into the sky for at least fifty feet, and while I could most of the time scale that easily, an episode as a result of the berries would be the end of me. A bird-like grimm cawed nearby, and I drew Theta,

"Uhhh, sir? You have a low probability of even killing one of them, I suggest you run,"

"Never tell me the odds when they're against me," I growled, crouching and looking through Theta's settings,

"Well, if you're looking to go out with a bang, I'd suggest th-"

"Shut up Theta," I told him, flipping to his third of eight mode. A curved scimitar grew from the blade, and I flipped it around me,

(Theta usage 101, "Third of eight mode", "third", indicates the shape of the weapon, afterward, everything includes it length, For example, the curved scimitar form is the third mode that it could be, the "of eight" indicates that it is the eighth longest length, of twenty, Theta also features around eighteen modes, and I most certainly won't, can't, get to all of them, but you'll see a new one pop up now and then)

I swung Theta, beheading an approaching humanoid grimm, the smell of blood drew the Ursa like creatures closer, but where Ursai were big an heavy, these guys were lean and mean. Three came forward tentatively, and I rolled my eyes, shifting one directly infront of me as I turned full circle, slashing it in half. I brought the other two closer, one by one, killing them, but the other grimm got close by that time. I brought Theta up as I ducmed under an attack, parrying and dodging simultaneously, and smiled as some of the grim inched back, I stood and stabbed through the grimm that attacked first, a devolved form of the humanoid grimm, more monkey like than anything, and stepped back as a mini nevermore swooped over head. Swinging at them would be useless and embarassing, not to mention it would give the other grim time to get at me, I looked around, seeing another neverless(name I came up for mini-nevermores) fly by, I tried to lock onto it with semblance in order to shift it under ground, but it was too fast, and I paid for my lapse in attention with a nasty claw mark on my right arm.

"Sir, your left."

"Thanks Theta," I commended, dodging slightly and parrying a swipe at the middle of the monkey like Grimm's arm, bringing the hilt up almost to hand over Theta but instead using the curved blade to lever the arm out of it's socket. The grimm howled in pain, and I beheaded it quickly, waiting for the next strike, it came from above and Theta once again had to warn me of it, I dodged right, slashing at where I'd been, the bird fell to the ground in halves, and I looked around, there were too many, and this was taking too long, this was settled by them all rushing at me at once. I jumped above them, and they clashed below me, I maneuvered mid-air, and got Theta under me as I landed, turning and slashing into one as another and a third attacked aswell, I parried one attack and switched Theta to first of ten mode a slightly shorter than normal greatsword, at 5 feet long, it could rend bone, and I swung it around, cutting three enemies in half before the rest noticed and jumped back. I lrapt forward, turning around, and bringing Theta down horizontally in an arc of death, beheading one of the Beowulf like grimm and cutting another in half, eight remained, two Ursa like things and six birds. I scanned the area, looking for a way to snare the birds, I noticed some vines high up, but deemed them too far away, and I wasn't sure whether my semblance would work on them, my thoughts were interrupted as a swipe from a Ursa slammed me into a tree. I shook my head, flipping Theta off and back on, stabbing the Ursa, and looking at him,

"Hey, warning?"

"Neverless, two o' clock." He mumbled, and I ducked, slashing up, I clipped it's wing, and it crashed into a tree, one of them cawed in anger, and I looked up, smiling, they'd all been hiding in a tree, and I brought them down, locking onto the remaining five and shifting them into the floor, cracks resounded as their bones were crushed, grousome, but necessary, and I looked around, bringing the remaining Ursa to me and cutting off it's head, I looked up, the nevermore nest more attainable than ever, I stabbed Theta into the tree, hoping I could climb up it before I had another attack. I sturggled, pulling myself foot by foot, making twenty five feet straight up before nearly passing out on a branch, I looked up, and grimaced, quite a distance remained, more than how much I just climbed, I'd underestimated it's height, but couldn't stop, standing, I continued pulling myself up. After an eternity, I mdae it to the nest, the sunsetting behind me as I vaulted over the side and collapsed on the floor.

"Oh good! We can all die together!" Hunter said happily, and I looked at him, frowning, he was standing straight, not a scratch on him.

"But yer just fine, why didn't you just climb down?"

"Nevemores don't like to eat pointy things, so I could stay, that, and your team leader is in critical condition." He said, pointing a Mako, a chunk of wood speared through his shoulder, his breathing was slight, and I crawled over, he was almost dead, but then so was I, my silvery aura lighted the nest as I channeled into him to heal the wound,

"How do you know how to do that?" He questioned, watching me,

"Second year, duh," I managed, feeling my life, my very essence, slip away. He had been doing his best to heal it himself, and I managed to finish healing it. The stake fell to the ground nearby, his arm stayed gray, dead, but his face livened, and I fell backwards, out like a light, eyes still open.

Name: Cole Last Name: None

"Uh oh," I whispered, a life nearly extinguished, and I looked back as we came back to Epsilon's camp, having left to look for others, we were surprised and delighted by a fire foing on, it's warmth seeping into us as we approached, Epsilon sat at a tree, head in his hands, his sword missing. I looked at Milly, or what looked like Milly, even from this far away, I knew something was wrong, she'd been tampered with, and wasn't the same person anymore, torn apart by the changes and thoughts forced on her, and who she really was. Epsilon looked up, putting two slash marks on the tree behind him, adding two more as an enormous lumbering guy, the one from the benchpress, and Nio approached, Nio was twitching, and was covered in nicks and scratches, the other person was covered in scabs, mostly scars by this point. Nio was impaired, something was messing with his mind, he saw me staring and shrugged,

"Poisoned scythes, he promised it would wear off by tomorrow," he mumbled, pointing at the scythes hooked to the other guy's pants. I nodded, and stepped forward, whirling my staff and touching it's end to his shirt's mid section, he gritted his teeth, and I nodded, channeling into the wound to heal it, doing the same to his shoulder. Stepping back and looking at Alejandra, she shrugged, and laid out the skins we'd collected, laying down to sleep. I sat next to Epsilon,

"Milly's thoughts, her very mind, is in danger, why have you not taken action?" I questioned, and he looked at me, his gaze pain filled, tinted by confusion and anger, I looked at him, returning his gaze, altering the look in my eyes to mirror his, showing him what he was showing me. He nodded, and the look faded, replaced by resignation,

"I don't know what to do, what can I do?"

"Her mind has been changed by some foreign aura, it is sickly inside her, festering, it came with good intent, actually, no intent at all, but now, for her sake, it is only be washed out, removed, replaced by who she really is."

"Can you do that?"

"Can I?"

"Blurgh, Okay, how do I do it?" He asked, standing and rubbing his hands together, I pointed at her,

"Focus on who she was, who she should be, flood her mind with those truths, and that should do it, but be sure you only put in who she is, not who you wanted her to be, because any change, no matter how small, could have catastrophic consequences, in her current state, every thought, every feeling, thrust into her mind, so concentrate, but do not project intense concentration into her." I explained, and he nodded, glowing green as he got close, it faded, and he shook her gently awake, she clung to him, crying and he held her, patting her back until she stopped,

"what happened?" She asked, and he pointed to me,

"Cole got here and told me a way to help you, apparently it's dangerous, so I wanted to tell you before she started," he told her, and she nodded, standing at the ready, he glowed green again, placing his hands on her shoulders. His aura focused, and images appeared in her eyes, flashing quickly, it was a successful beginning, and he walked back, breathing heavily,

"Howhazzat?" He asked, and I shrugged,

"A good start, Alejandra, get to it." I said, nudging her, knowing she was awake.

"Wait what? I thought that was it." He managed, looking at me. I looked at him,

"You know of but a small fraction of her life, she will not be restored u til we get Alejandra and Ian's point of views in her aswell, which will hopefully culminate correctly together to form a complete Milly." I explained, and he groaned,

"Hey! You guys fin-?" He started,

"Nope," Nio interrupted, and I walked over to the big one,

"You are hurt," I whispered,

"Don't worry about it, I heal quickly," he growled,

"That's not what I am attempting to convey, your every thought is commented on by an unwanted audience, what caused this?"

"Why do you wanna know? You gonna try and fix me like they will that other girl over there? Don't bother, other's have tried,"

"I am simply curious, and don't worry, I won't, can't, try to fix you, as a result of there being nothing to fix, you are who you decide to be, if you wanted, you could simply remove them from existence, you could choose to not have them, it is obvious you keep them, and I think that that may be because they are a significant part of who you are, of how you interact, of how you want to be,"

"No one's ever accepted me as I was before, but other's have faked going just as far as saying those exact words, so I apologize, but you're gonna need to go further than that to prove you are telling the truth," he said, contemplative, and I nodded,

"I look forward to such oppurtunities." Leaving him to his thoughts.

Name: Ian Last Name: Strider

I woke up, falling, and scrambled around, looking for something to grab onto, someone caught me, and held me out, placing me on the floor.

"What are the odds he'd wake up in mid-air?" Hunter asked, dropping down next to me,

"Well, it makes sense if you watched Inception," Mako commented,

"Oh? So the dead man speaks?" Hunter joked, slapping Mako on the back,

"Don't do that," I told him, and he shrugged, " Some of us are way too close to death for such jokes." We walked back to the camp, Mako and I bracing against each other as we made our way through the dark jungle. My timer was almost out, and I might be the one going home in a body bag.

(So yea, Wow, extended this chapter, just cuz it's big numbuh fitty, jungle conclusion on Fifty One, so wait on that. Afterward we head back to beacon for the new semester. Review, PM me)


	51. Chapter 51: Requiem

Okey doke, last chapter for jungle, and this story, I'm just about gonna pick up where I left off with another story, so yea, look out for that, it really turns out that beacon is the key, it's what was missing, without being in it, the peeps are thrust into anger, frustration, and even mental instability, so I'm gonna try to get them all back there, Ian tho, hmmm, he should be dead now, the poison reaching his circulatory system and shutting down his organs one by one, I don't see how I'm gonna circumvent that, plus, he still has to help Milly, and that'll probably suck the last of his aura from him, NOT looking good for one of my favorite characters)

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia

I trudged forward, the dense jungle and strangely cold air suffocating me, but I was near them, almost there, and Julia could be healed, I owed it to her to carry on, and to my father, he had been devastated by little Sophia's death, and would curl up and die if Julia left us, I'd sworn that day to severely hurt the person who killed my youngest twin, we had been triplets, and Julia and Sophia inseparable, I could do nothing but tell her what a bad idea it was to go out of Dad's office, and had watched as a monster cut the head from my sister, with a whip of blue, maybe Saphire colored, energy, a bell rang in my mind, almost as if I knew someone with an aura like that, but I shrugged it off, and looked at my sister. I felt her pain, literally, my head throbbing as I heard their voices, up ahead, my ears tuned to be able to hear for miles, and they were just about twenty feet away, I separated, categorized their voices, Epsilon, Alejandra, one that seemed familiar, but that had been altered, unwillingly, and finally, Cole, the one who could heal her. I smiled for a brief moment, but it dropped off my face as I saw red eyes appear in the shadows, grimm, too many to fight, I would be torn to pieces before the others got here. They had been watching, waiting for the smallest inkling of hope, and now they wanted to crush that hope, I grimaced, and placed Julia on the ground, drawing my twin axes, and latching them together, standing over her as they charged, a beowulf (I'm gonna call them by the names closest to what they are, but be sure to remember that they are jungle aclimated) swiped at her neck, crouching, and I sliced it's head from it's body, kicking both away, an Ursa attacked her legs, but I was there, parrying the attack, cutting into him with a horizontal attack with one axe, pulling it out and burying the other one in his other side, I yanked it out again and flipped axes around me, cleaving it's head in two, Spartan kicking him onto the others, I turned to see a beowulf with it's mouth at Julia's throat, too far away to attack so I threw the axes, guillotining his head from his body, pulling out my largest bow and scroll as I did so, powering them up, I produced a blast of air around us with a stroke on one of the four strings, playing on that and another, I played a fierce song of anger as they approached, I ended the song as they got close, releasing a cone of fire from the strings, turning it in a circle and cooking them, careful to watch out for Julia. I grinned, and I thought they would beat me.

"Ohhh, but we will," A creeping voice said behind me as something dropped from the trees, I turned to look, but only saw the mask of a grimm and a hairless torso, it smacked it's fist against the back of my head, and I was out before I hit the ground.

Name: Teresa

I heard the song and drew my bow, selecting an arrow that I knew would be helpful, stepping forward on the branch, I heard a thud from where the music was coming from, and put the arrow on the bow string, drawing it back as I crept forward, activating my semblance, I watched as a strange, naked person, crouched to kill Tyler and someone on the floor. I aimed precisely, releasing the arrow, watching as it flopped, almost like a spear when thrown, I dropped to the floor. The fall feeling like it took forever, I landed, and drew my axes, leaping forward as the arrow literally screamed toward it's target, which looked up, and leaned back to dodge the arrow, surprised as I lopped off it's head and caught my arrow, placing it in the quiver on my back and inspecting the unconscious bodies. Definitely Tyler, and Julia,

"HEY WILL! A LITTLE HELP?" I called, and he appreared, dropping from above,

"Sorry mate," He said, looking at Tyler, "Saw the bogie, but wanted to see how you might react to it."

"Whatever, you carry him, I'll carry her, let's go, that thing might not have been one of a kind." I said, and he nodded, throwing Tyler over his shoulder as I gently lifted Julia, walking into the camp.

"Hello!" I called, smiling, and they all looked at me, expressions grim. "S'wrong with you guys?" I questioned, and they just watched me, I placed Julia near the fire, "Give her a hand Cole," I ordered, and he nodded, stepping forward and kneeling next to her, as his hands started glowing I walked over to Epsilon, "Seriously, what's up?"

"It's Milly, she isn't in her right mind at the moment, and paired with the fact that we're still missing a couple people, the mood has been kinda glum for a while."

"Is Milly still awake?"

"Yea, she can't sleep,"

"Alright, lemme have a talk with her," I said, and he shrugged,

"She's right over there," He told me, pointing at a figure on the other side of the fire. I nodded, and walked over to her, she was curled in a ball, fetal position, and I sat to her side, so that we would be back to back, but I was to her right, and laid back,

"Hai," I said playfully, and she lifted her head, her hair ratty and some strands in front of her face, clumps of dirt in them, she looked at me, her eyes wild, the inside chocolate brown, deep, soothing, and the outer half of her irises consumed by an unnatural purple,

"Hey," she mumbled,

"What's the problem, honey? What's made you so messed up like this?"

"I'm not sure, I think it was Jake, but he's so kind, and handsome, and, and." She broke down, "See?! I get washed away just thinking about him!" She said through her tears, and I scowled,

"Snap out of it, this isn't you, pull yourself together, this is ridiculous." I growled, "Not everything has to be done by magic, who you are is a decision YOU make, it's not something that can be changed willy nilly, just choose who you are, select what you think," I told her, and she looked at me, crying, and I watched as her hair started turning purple,

"It's not working! I can't do that! It's messing me up!" She cried,

"No kidding," I whispered, and she looked at me, tears streaming from her eyes. Only the ends of her hairs had turned purple, and I smiled, "See? Not too bad, just don't do that again, I guess this is something we actually need to find an alternate way to fix, you said you thought it was Jake?" I questioned, and she nodded,

"Okay, I'll go talk to him about it, and I'll see if he can reverse it, 'k?" I asked, and she nodded again. I stood, and turned to look at the figure on the ground, still unconscious, and walked over, nudging him with my foot when I got to him. Nothing happened, and I nudged him harder, then again, before I stepped back and kicked him in the side.

"Oooph," He exclaimed, holding his side, I walked up, and grabbed him by the neck,

"I've lost my patience," I growled, picking him up and slamming him into a tree, "What, have you done to that poor girl?" I interrogated, and he looked at me in bewilderment,

"Wha-?" He started before I yanked him off the tree and slammed him back into it,

"She was fine 3 days ago, now she's not, you, are the common denominator, WHAT, HAPPENED?"

"I don't know! I didn't DO anything, you're crazy!" He yelled, grasping my hand. I growled, pushing him up the tree, he struggled for breath, and almost blacked out again before I dropped him,

"Can you. Fix her?" I asked quietly, and he shook his head, I walked away, determined to find a way to help her, fuming at not knowing where to start,

"Ian," Cole said behind me, and I nodded, looking around, seeing a partition in the grass where someone had dragged themself, it was cold, but there was a trace, a path, that apparently only my eyes could follow, stringing and loading my bow, I proceeded into the darkness. Stepping quietly, following the tracks left behind by a desperate friend.

Name: Ian Last Name: Strider

I started to lead them to the camp, back the way I came from, we barely made it halfway there before the grimm found us. Mako alerted us, and drew Flint with difficulty before I shook my head and stood in front of him,

"Theta, Analysis,"

"Twelve grimm, located in groups of three at your 4, 6, 8, and 10 O'clock, approximately," He answered, and I nodded, putting him in third of fifteen mode,(My favorite mode by far, you'll see why). They charged, and I turned, now standing behind Mako as they were unable to hear Theta,(seeing as how he didn't make any actual sound, it's a vibration language that Ian mastered quite a while ago) a blade came out of Theta(Who is the hilt) and curled around me, going full 360°, I grinned at the approaching grimm, raising Theta and holding the blade vertically as they approached,

"Horizontal for crowd control, Vertical for precision, are you sure that you don't wanna take them out all at once?" Theta asked, and I shrugged,

"Momentum travels through spacial shift, correct?"

"Correct, but... Oh, I see where you're going, carry on." He answered, practically grinning. I flipped the large blade around me, at six feet in diameter, it could rip through Epsilon's shields like they were paper, rotating it, getting momentum, I let it touch the floor, and it's own weight carried it as I threw it forward, it cleaved a Beowulf in two, and I focused on it for a moment before Spatial shifting it in front of one of the Ursai, killing it and spatial shifting Theta before it completely hit it and lost momentum, doing so repeatedly, I managed to kill most of them, Hunter severing the head of the last three as I retrieved Theta.

"Wow, I did not see that coming," Mako breathed, and I shrugged,

"There's quite alot I've never shown you guys about what I can do," I told him, grinning, it fell of my face as all the blood seemed to drain from my body, I fell forward, slipping into unconsciousness, no, something deeper than that, but a thought didn't come to mind as my very mind completely blacked out.

"You could die here, you know?" Someone, something, said, as I dropped into a checkerboard tiled room, the ceiling stretched forever above me, and someone my age leaned against one of the walls of the octagonal room I was in.

"Huh?" I asked, and the person shrugged,

"Your life could end at this very moment, it would be perfect, you would be a martyr, a hero, the only person it might hurt is Mako, who now feels responsible because he didn't help, but in all seriousness, if you died now, you would go straight to heaven."

"But I practically killed myself, if I died from that..."

"That's not how it works, giving your life, and taking your life, are two very different things, they mean the beginning, or the very end, respectively, and while you may leave them behind, I'm sure we can find some loophole or other so that you would be allowed to watch over them, god is pretty merciful in that way, so, what do you say? Die now, go to heaven, be immortal, be a hero, be the greatest sacrifice, the catalyst required to set a full blown war against grimm, each and every man, woman, and child taking up arms to avenge you? Or will you go back to the pain, the anger, the frustration, and this forced, but fearful peace in remnant?"

"I..."

"Don't answer, I already know what you'll choose, follow me, heaven is in this direction." Death said, walking towards a shining door, I shook my head,

"If I am the catalyst to start a war, I will be responsible for all the deaths involved, I choose to go back, to help my friends," I growled, and Death looked at me in disbelief,

"I...Miscalculated," He said, staring at me, and a Scythe appeared in his hand, death was etched in it's every feature, but it was jet black, as if made from pure obsidian, and he walked over touching the tip of it's blade to my cheek,

"You truly do, you wish to continue, so, I will grant your wish, but at a price, for you see, you already died, the poison taking advantage of your faltering bloodstream, so, you can go back, but under a few conditions,you will be watched over by me until I find out why you act the way you do, and you will be immortal unless killed by your own weapon, I do take quite a while to learn something new, so I'm not quite sure how long you'll live, but if you break any of the conditions, or attempt to, you will die, and you will be sent to our frind downstairs," Death explained, and raised his scythe, striking at thin air, and a rift was torn in the fabric of the existence of the room, he picked me up, and tossedme through it, laughing as he did so, I heard him yell,

"Immortality is never as fun as it sounds!"

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I 'looked' around, not seeing Teresa or any of them, and Ian's time was running out, I was, however, surprised when Orion dropped down right next to me, falling from a clump of branches, meaning I'd 'looked'over him by accident.

"Heyo!" He exclaimed, in far greater spirits than even Teresa.

"Hi," I mumbled, looking away, and noticing Aries thromp through the forest, using Volund as a staff to carry some of his weight, I scratched two more marks into the tree behind me counting off the people we found in my head,

'Cole, Orion, Aries, Teresa, Me, Nio, Tyler, Julia, Senryo, Jake, and that new, weird talking guy must be on Julia's team, Milly, Ian kinda, Alejandra, so we're missing, Hunter, Mako, and Ian kinda, with Teresa looking for them,' I looked at my scroll, located it's screws, and dissassembled it, finding every inside component saturated with humidity,

'Well that explains them not working.' I stood, and placed the pieces near the fire, keeping the battery with me, and wondering how I could charge it. Jake was up, and was also staring at his scroll, it being the most obvious way to contact help, since the carrier had been destroyed, it was possibke that they'd already sent out ships to look for us, the problem was that we didn't know hiw far those birds had carried us, and whether thry were still looking for us,

"A signal," He said, and I shrugged, they most likely wouldn't see it, so it would be useless to waste mor ammo, "One at night, Lithium, Copper Chloride, we can make a firework, that way they'll see it,"

"I don't see any lithium around," I growled, and he grinned

"Haven't you noticed it quite cold at night? It leads me to believe we are somewhere, strange, and, while you've been casting you 'sight' in all directions, how about you take a look underground?" He said, and I shrugged, doing so, seeing mud, decomposing plant life, and some mineral, Pegmatite.

"How?"

"I did a bit of digging glooking for stone for a furnace, and came across some glacial minerals, strange, yet there anyway, if you found any Pegmatite, I can extract Lithium from it,"

"Yep, there's some below us, but it doesn't seem all that magnetic,"

"Naturally, you wanna start digging?"

"Pffft, No," I said, taking out one of the metal rods, "How much do we need?"

"A bunch, why?"

"Just wondering," I said, separating the pieces into needles, then thrusting them into a ground, straight toward a body sized deposit, I hooked them to it, and pulled, concentrating hard, it got to the surface, unwillingly, and I fell back, exhausted, and he nodded,

"Yep, this should be more than enough,"

"Blurgh," I responded, falling to sleep.

Name: Teresa

I saw them before they saw me, and hid, instinctively, Mako was carrying something, someone, and trudging along as if it was a dead friend, he walked continuously, never faltering, on a mission from god, it seemed, but, he was interrupted when the person woke up, Ian struggled to his feet, Mako and Hunter staring at him in disbelief,

"You-you were dead," Hunter said, his hand on his forehead, jaw dropped, I took a mental picture, and Ian shrugged,

"I was," He said, and walked on, leading them to the camp, walking directly under me, they didn't notice me, a given, my ears twitched, picking up something strange, and I shrugged, dropping silently to the ground and falling into step next to Hunter, the noise continued, a rumble, as if some landslide was happening, or as if something was being ripped from the ground with great force, I brushed away the thought, falling into step next to Hunter, we passed some other tracks, ones made by other groups, and I left them, knowing we were too close to the camp for them to get lost, following the new, old, tracks, I treaded without sound, cautious as a result if seeing the newest and nastiest form of grimm, it had actually looked human, and if I hadn't been mistaken, could speak like us, I pushed away the thoughts as I approached a hollowed out tree, fire flickering from inside, I stood at it's entrance, two beings sat at the fire, two more were asleep to one side of the tree,

"Maybes we should eats them now, things like this don't sit in our lives often," One of the creatures by the fire croaked as I recognized the two sleeping as Orion and Aries, I pulled two arrows from the quiver, aiming carefully, and they stood, kind of, loin clothes thankfully covered the lower parts, but I could easily distinguish their spines from the skin on their back, they turned, masks covering their faces, and saw me, they took in a breath, readying to call for other grimm, and gargled blood as I sent the arrows into their throats, I kicked Orion, and he woke with a start, waking Aries as well, I pointed at the bodies, and they shuddered, looking at me again, Orion smiled, and threw his arms around me, hugging me, and I froze, Aries might have done it, Cole would've loved to(I knew of his feelings for me), but Orion? He stepped back, his expression hardening, and nodded, leaving the tree and waiting outside, I nodded to Aries, and he pouted. I rolled my eyes and gave him a quick hug, he seemed appeased, and crept out of the tree, careful to make sure his armor didn't make a sound, I took a look at the creatures, taking a mental picture of them, and leaving the cave, showing them the way to the camp.

Name: Ian Last Name: Strider

The mood in the small camp was solemn, to say the least, and Cole stood as we approached, Tyler, Julia, Epsilon, Nio, and Milly were lined up next to the fire, the first four sleeping peacefully, Milly, curled up on her side, mud in her hair, and twitching every now and then, I stared at her, wondering what she'd been through,

"Milly requires your assistance," Cole said, looking me in the eye, and I shrugged,

"How can I help?"

"Her mind has been, played with," He said, and someone on the other side of the fire winced, "and her remedy is your menories, your thoughts, on who and how she was," He said, and I nodded,

"Okay, fine, how do I start?"

"Simply channel your aura into her, focusing on your description of her personality, make sure it is who she is, and not who you want her to be, in her mind's current unstable state, any hesitation about who she is can be catastrophic," he explained, and I nodded, walking over and kneeling next to her,

"Milly, I'm here to help, ready?" I asked, and she nodded, not looking up. I took her hands, and she stood, her eyes hidden by shadows, I closed my eyes, and focused on who I knew as Milly Liberty, a smart, fair, person, who was always there when ever I needed a hand, she could be forceful, and she'd jumped around with boyfriends last year, so I included that, she did her best in tough situations, but could benfrustrated easily, and recently, I'd become aware of her deep affection for Epsilon, so I was sure to add that, I made the mistake of opening my eyes, and seeing that my aura had changed color, instead of it's gray color it had become completely black, Milly had looked at me in that moment, and I'd almost screamed, my new black aura color had enveloped the entirety of her eyes, no whites, no iris, just solid black. I nearly let go of her hands, but Cole was at my side, and had put his hands on the link of our hands, holding us together, the blackness spiraled into the middle of her eyes, becoming the pupil, brown seeped from it until her eyes once again looked like her's. Her eyes fluttered and closed, and she collapsed against me. I caught her and carried her to one of the sleeping mats, placing her there and looking around, I noticed Jake cutting something from a large stone, I walked over, and crouched next to him as I watched, the inner mineral corroded and dulled in the light of the fire.

"Lithium, pretty pure too, should leave a lasting impression, hopefully they'll see it,"

"Yea, they should see it, if they're still around,"

"I haven't told you who I'm thinking will see it, who are you...?"

"Why the grimm of course, you?"

"I'm hoping the search carriers will be nearby, they'll pick us up and we can go, that simple."

"Not that simple, we've got too many wounded, how do we know we won't be over run before they get here?"

"That's just a risk that we'll have to take, it's our only chance,"

"We're not gonna take a risk, with the lives of my friends,"

"So we're gonna wait for death? Is that what you want?"

I winced at the word death, and glared at him,

"We, are going to get them healed up, and then, we can set off your firework, until then, keep it under wraps, and don't let it get off the ground,"

"It's not like I can do anything without Epsilon up and ready to grab the materials necessary, but I'll keep an eye on it,"

I nodded, and walked over to Cole,

"They okay?"

"Milly just needs rest, a cognitive reboot can have that affect, You look all right, though Epsilon informed me that you were poisoned, Mako is up and walking, but I haven't been able to restore circulation to his arm completely, I fear for it, Alejandra is untouched, easily the most fit of your group."

"That's to be expected,"

"Yes, well, I'm fine, Orion and Aries are groggy but intact, Teresa is also easily adgusting to this environment," He continued, counting the teams off on his fingers. "Hunter is exhausted, but sleeping peacefully, Epsilon is out like a light, Nio is poisoned, sort of, and has a slash in his midsection and on his arm, Tyler has a minor concussion, but should be alright, Julia is hurt, badly, and needs more care than I can give, it's imperative that we get her to beacon, soon,"

"Can't you just aura channel heal her?"

"Brains are tricky things, as we both know, it has to heal on it's own, but I need a way to bandage the wound on the back of her head, and leaves won't do the trick, you have any ideas?"

"Of course," I growled, sitting and pulling off my shoe, ripping part of the leg of my jeans at the ankle, putting Theta into first of one mode(knife six inches long) to cut it into a strip,

"That'll do," Cole said, dumbfounded, and I shrugged,

"Continue,"

He kneeled to bandage Julia's head, saying,

"Senryo would find it just about impossible to get hurt, Jake is doing okay, but is, strangely, malicious, I'd say, something not quite right about him, and William is in his element, oddly, considering he originates from a desert like home, I think that's everyone,"

"How soon can we get a good percentage of us on their feet?"

"I'd give it about 20 or so hours," He estimated, and I nodded,

"They gonna be ok for now?" I asked, and he shrugged,

"As long as they are not attacked by grimm,"

"Then get some rest, I'll keep watch,"

"Thanks,"

He walked off, sitting near the fire, and I sat off to the side, Alejandra nodded, and went to sleep, gracefully accepting ole's robes against the now extreme cold, Jake too went to sleep, and all was peaceful,

"Sir, why do you give so much for these people? Would they do the same for you?" Theta questioned, resonating from the hilt,

"Sometimes it's not about reciprocation Theta," I murmured, he was silent. Eventually I woke Alejandra, and went to sleep her watchful eyes scanning for danger.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I woke, the air misty as the humidity became annoying, the previously sub-zero temperatures now returning to the extreme heat of the jungle. I stood, and Teresa pointed to some food, I'd been the last of those who would wake up to wake up, Julia still on the ground, Mako leaning on a tree,

"They went to get stuff for Jake's firework, they should be back soon, are you alright?" He said, I shrugged,

"Not feeling the greatest, but I've definitely been through worse, you?"

"My arm hasn't been getting any better, but hopefully they can patch me up at beacon,"

"They can, Cole and I barely scratch the surface when trying to heal others, Milly might be able to help, she volunteers in the infirmary from time to time,"

"Yea...I'll ask her when she gets back." He said contemplatively, and my eyes widened,

"THEY LET HER GO WITH THEM?!"

"Yea, she recovered and didn't want to feel like dead weight!" He called as I sprinted out of the clearing, my 'sight' casting out to it's limit(About three miles, only possible for a few moments at a time) I located them and drew my sword, jumping into a tree and racing toward a ring of grimm, surrounding a meandering group of people.

I stopped at the edge of the ring, the grimm creeping up on the unsuspecting group of my friends, my 'sight' focused, drawing in to be only about ten meters(METRIC) the ears of the grimm twitched as I stepped on some twig, but they disregarded it, to intent on savoring their ambush. I crept up behind them, and held my sword in mid-air with my semblance, getting ready to cut them all in halves, on the edge of my 'vision' someone, a girl, with her hair in a ponytail, looked back, directly at me, I followed through with the strike, slashing through a few of them before she appeared in front of me, her billowing pants and sleeves consuming my actual vision, a dagger at my throat, her eyes piercing my soul, face a mask of anger,

"Oh," She whispered, noticing it was me, and her features softened as we moved radically, teleporting back to the group, making me drop the sword, she let go of me and I shook my head for a moment, woozy at the instantaneous transportation.

"EPSILON!" someone yelled, and I was tackled, a certain faunas girl very happy to see me,

"I thought you were dead!" She said, helping me up, and I looked at her, quizzical,

"Well, it's pretty hard to kill me, so why did you...?"

"I haven't seen you in a few days, and the jungle is full of big, bad, grimm, silly," she said, and I looked at Ian, who shrugged,

"She hasn't quite been the same, but you should've seen her an hour ago, this is a great improvement, so we decided to just give her some time to even out, I guess," he said, his weapon spiraling into a sickle shape about three feet long, everyone else drawing, activating, or straight up holding their weapons at the ready, Milly's Roman Spatha(Cavalry sword, sorry about not clarifying that before) gleaming as she whirled it around her, it weight and length greater than that of my sword as I took up a two handed stance beside her. The grimm seemed to fade from the trees, the amount that I had killed paultry when compared to their extreme numbers, they charged, three wiry beowulves launching themselves directly at us, Jake crouched in the middle of the group, Milly turned as I ducked, her sword sweeping over my head as she came full circle for a slashing horizontal, cleaving a beowulf in two, following up with swinging the sword behind her and turning, flipping it over in her hand as she went, stabbing it downward into tye back of the grimm's neck as it charged. I parried an attack from the beowulf, freezing it in place and punching it in the face a couple times, letting it go afterward. It staggered backward, the pain crashing down on it, and I slashed diagonally up, letting my sword go but attacking by carrying it with my semblance and returning it to my hand. Alejandra ducked fluidly under a swipe from an Ursa nearby, jumping to knee the face, turning mid-air to kick it with the same motion, a cloud of purple exploding from each point of contact, the Ursa thing felt to the ground, it's brain knocked loose within it's skull, Ian, facing for opponents, looked a sif he needed help, and I stepped forward, only to have Milly hold me back, shaking her head, two Ursai and two beowulves surrounded him, an Ursa attacking first, swiping at his shoulder as he breathed deeply, clsoing his eyes, he sidestepped the swipe and spun behind the Ursa, hooking the sickle on the front of it's leg, tackling it from behind to give it a nasty slash in it's ankle, the other Ursa lumbered over to help, and he fiddled with a slider on the hilt of his weapon,jumping of the first Ursa as it struggled to stand, he flipped back, away from the main group, iming the hilt at the Ursa as it approached, it got within two feet of him, and he yelled,

"NOW!"

Causing a broadsword to explode from the hilt he was holding in the sickle's place, spearing the Ursa straight through the heart, the surprised look on it's face showed through it's mask, and he twirled around the standing dead body, yanking his weapon from it with ease and bringing the edge of the blade through a beowulf and through tue neck of the first Ursa, who had managed a kneeling position, the final Beowulf tried to run, and he turned and threw his sword in the opposite direction it was running, spatial shifting it to appear in front of the fleeing Beowulf, cutting through it's head and into it's torso. He wiped the blood off the blade as the others finished the fight, killing the remaining grimm, leaving no survivors. Jake looked up, solemn,

"I've got what I need, let's go," he said, Milly glaring at him. We returned to camp, the firework ready, only drakness needed now, with only Julia and Mako unable to fight, we had high hopes for keeping the grimm off of us until we could get everyone away, night fell, and Senryo finished enlarging the clearing, giving us a good perimeter to fight in, and I crouched next to Jake, who looked at Mako,

"If you would do the honors," He said, and Mako shrugged, walking over, he snapped his working fingers, and a flame appeared on one of them, lighting the fuse, we stepped back, and watched the mortar soar into the sky, exploding brilliantly, thankfully, we soon heard the sound of incoming carriers, but it was obvious the grimm wouldn't let us go without a fight, eight wings flapped as two strange nevermore's flew over head, and Milly looked at me, offering a hand. I grinned, and took it, allowing myself to be pulled off the ground, carried up to the first four winged nevermore and dropped, onto it, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and flew toward the other one, having regained the gist of her personality to best affect. I crouched, and drew my sword, stabbing into it to see just how tough this thing was, the answer was very, my sword not making a dent in it's armor of feathers, cutting through it yes, but most likely feeling like a pinprick to the huge grimm, I climbed over it, grasping feathers to reach it's neck, and grinned, stabbing it in the eyes on one side before repeating the process on the other, blinding it, and then focusing, drawing upon my aura in order to activate my semblance, pulling a rod from my back on the ground, forcing it towards me, sharpening it, coercing it to gain velocity in order to spear it through the head of the nevermore I was on, it worked, and I did the same to Milly's wondering what I would do without her as she caught me, we landed in the middle of a warzone, Tyler especially, but everyone really, defending Julia with their lives, we joined, Tyler filling the air with a song that drove the blood through our veins, letting us hit harder, and faster, Ian crushing any incoming enemies with sudden and extreme velocity if they came to close to Julia(i.e. teleporting them into the air and letting them fall) Alejandra and Mako causing mass chaos on the battlefield, Mako's right side covered by Alejandra, him managing to fight left handed, Aries mashed enemies into the ground and brought down the strange mini-nevermores that attacked from above, Orion fluidly going through motions that diced enemies as they approached, Cole and Jake working as a team, beating the heads of approaching enemies like pistons, using the similarities between their weapons as advantages, one person I didn't seem to recognize killed an Ursa with every attack, killing two Beowulves on a third, Teresa sat in a tree, killing anything that got too close to Milly and I as we watched the others, dumbfounded, and a spot light shined from above, a few of us looked up, me, Milly, Teresa, Ian, anyone who wasn't engaged at that moment, and that was our mistake, a beowulf taking this chance to launch itself from the shadows, toward Julia, a thousand thoughts flashed through my mind, and Ian noticed, turning quickly in front of Julia, not to attack, not to run away, but to save her life at the cost of his, he didn't get the chance, Julia waking and whirling to her feet, two daggers at the throat of the beowulf as it sailed through the air, daggers that had not been in existence a moment before, daggers that sparkled and had the same blackness as a night sky, daggers that she had created as she stood, the beowulf hadn't been able to stop mid-air, and was beheaded as it continued it's movement, as we watched, it's body corroded, becoming the same texture as the daggers, I noticed this, cross referencing it with what I knew, and crouched, holding Milly tightly. The body collapsed inward, creating a wormhole, which sucked us in.

The Next Day

"I will never be able to forget that," Tyler said, blinking, stepping out of the team room,

"What? That your sister can creat interdimensional wormholes? Or that we all woke up in this dorm room? With our clothes left behind?" Hunter grumbled, tapping his scroll a couple times to make sure the report had been turned in.

"Well, Since Epsilon woke first and walks around with his eyes closed in the morning, we all got clothed before we knew it, so it's definitely the wormhole thing, I wonder why she can only make them to get to Epsilon's bed though," He said, and I shrugged, wiring money to a carrier pilot,

"Either way, we have to go get our stuff back," I said, but was stopped by Professor Ozpin,

"Not necessarily Epsilon, your belongings were retrieved yesterday, by a carrier which had been designated to pick up beacon students, would you all have any idea what that was about...?" He asked, and I shrugged, pointing at Hunter's scroll,

"It's all in the report Professor, talk to Port about it," I said gruffly, and he looked at me, slight disapproval emanating from him at my attitude, but he nodded, and strolled away, taking a sip of coffee as he went. Whether it was Saturday or not, no classes, the semester had ended, that being the last assignment before the next one, and they gracefully gave us a break from all of it. I trudged back to the room after breakfast, and went about repairing it the explosion caused by the spontaneous appearance of sixteen people had caused my bed to fall to the ground, and I 'picked' it up, bolting it back in place, but sensing something strange as I did so, taking an amulet out from below the mattress as I did so, the pendant glowed with a soft blue light.

(So yea, last chapter, pretty long, nice and round, I'll pick up a few days after this with another story, and it will follow season two, so look forward to that, it will use the same characters, but with some changes. I.e. I won't be looking through as many eyes as before, sixteen being a little ambitious, but whatev, I'll probably keep it down to Epsilon, Nio, Ian, Cole, and maybe Senryo(+Sen and Nessie, his alternate personalities) so look forward to that, what else? Uhhh, PM, Review, Good morning, considering I posted this at around 2 AM (EST))

-The Lantern Keeper


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